"Four families" in the cloud storage field

As Google officially launched its own cloud storage products Google Drive, the formal formation of the cloud storage area of the "four big families." So what are their strengths and how will they be interpreted in the future? What products do we choose as consumers? Let's look at the contrast between the four families:

In the four major cloud storage products, in addition to Dropbox is a new venture, others can be seen as the 3 big Internet giant's natural extension products. With cloud computing on the rise, cloud storage seems to have evolved into a platform, a platform that spans traditional operating systems, terminal devices, and not just a single functional product. So in the long run, Google, Microsoft and Apple may have a more competitive edge.

From the above we can also find that, whether Google, Apple or Microsoft, are doing integration, and its own ecosystem products to do integration. Google and Microsoft are using their own advantages in the office and search areas to integrate, Apple is using its own platform and the advantages of the terminal area to integrate, and the emerging start-up companies Dropbox clearly lack of resources, this may be a big challenge it will have to face. As we pointed out in the six Ecosystems series, both users and internet giants want to get all the Internet services they need through an ecosystem and a unified account, whether they are movies, music, reading, gaming or shopping, paying and socializing. Therefore, with the traditional business integration, to build a platform beyond the traditional operating system is likely to be the future trend, those with their own platform of the Giants will have this advantage.

So does it mean that start-ups don't have a chance? It seems to be true at first, but not necessarily if you think carefully. In a few days of Ma's dialogue with Kelly, Kelly said: "Using a platform to develop new applications, or new products that can be applied on other people's platforms, is an attractive new business." If you develop your own platform will be very complex, if you are a new entrepreneurial people, it is better to develop a new product, to get someone else's platform to sell. "This is really the easiest way for start-ups to succeed, and the young teams we know about draw something and Instagram are quick success stories that take advantage of the advantages of others ' platforms."

But if a product appears to be a platform-oriented trend from the start, it is not difficult to build a platform. Like today's Microsoft, Google, Facebook and so on, its products have been set up at the beginning of the platform trend, so start-ups can still build a new platform. Cloud storage, which seems to have a similar trait, is a step closer than the previous operating system, through which it can transcend operating system limits and beyond the limits of terminal devices. So for start-ups like Dropbox, it's not impossible to build a platform of their own.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)