Google Photos Revives Its Prints Subscription Service (techcrunch.com) 15
Google Photos is reviving its photo printing subscription service and introducing same-day prints. The company earlier this year had briefly tested a new program that used A.I. to suggest the month's 10 best photos, which were then shipped to your home automatically. But Google ended the test on June 30. From a report: During the trial, Google had offered users a $7.99 per month subscription that would automatically select 10 photos from one of three themes, including people and pets, landscapes, or "a little bit of everything" mix. The 4x6 photos were printed on matte, white cardstock with a 1/8-inch border. The new subscription, launching soon, leverages feedback from the early tests to now give users more control over which prints they receive and how they look. It also drops the price to $6.99 per month, including shipping and before tax. With the new Premium Print Series, as the subscription is called, Google Photos will use machine learning techniques to pick 10 of your recent photos to print. But users can edit the photo selection and they can choose either a matte or glossy finish or add a border before the photos ship.
A look to the future (Score:2)
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I'll give it a year... 18 months tops.
And it will leave a number of very bitter people behind when it shuts down.
Google will be relying on the subscription income rather than the volume of prints shipped to customers to judge the success/fail of this thing.
As a photographer, I don't see the market need for this sort of service but everything is 'subscription', 'subscription', 'subscription' at the moment. When I want a quality print, I use PAYG services like Photobox.
DOA IMHO.
Re: A look to the future (Score:3)
One big problem is that, aside from baby and wedding pics, who prints pictures any more?
Nobody cares if a particular picture is "the best of the month." They're just going to post or email or text it anyway. >p> A picture worth showing off on the wall, they're going to get it printed on a large format printer and get a horking big frame and a proper mat. Maybe one picture a decade.
Doesn't google know people don't print pictures, emails, or web sites any more, unless it's at work and on the compa
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How long until Google decides to add this one to killedbygoogle.com?
IKR? Companies should not be allowed to stop non-profitable services or products.
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How long until Google decides to add this one to killedbygoogle.com?
IKR? Companies should not be allowed to stop non-profitable services or products.
Okay, lemme splain, because at least one person has this response to people pointing out that Google has a tendency to kill off unprofitable things.
Yes, Google is certainly within their right to do that. It is, however, a habit that they have, and that habit yields a chilling effect. The more they kill off things that aren't profitable, the more there is a "once bitten, twice shy" response to giving Google data or standardizing on a service.
The Google Graveyard is full of services that involved people inves
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and that habit yields a chilling effect
Seems a little dramatic to call the hypothetical end of a photo subscription service "chilling".
Yes, Google is certainly within their right to do that. It is, however, a habit that they have, and that habit yields a chilling effect. The more they kill off things that aren't profitable, the more there is a "once bitten, twice shy" response to giving Google data or standardizing on a service.
Not super interested in arguing about ever service Google has ever ended and whether it was a good idea. Just talking about a service where you can order photographs.
Google doesn't have a tendency to publish OSS copies of those services
So you want them to publish to OSS the code behind the service that lets you order photos? So someone else can host the service and negotiate all of the contracts required and so on?
I see what you are doing. An opportunity to bash Google about some u
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and that habit yields a chilling effect
Seems a little dramatic to call the hypothetical end of a photo subscription service "chilling".
Oh, the end of this one particular service, in isolation, sure. We agree that this one particular service being discontinued isn't that big of a deal.
However, your original statement was broader, as you said, "IKR? Companies should not be allowed to stop non-profitable services or products.". If I misunderstood your original statement, that's fine, but that statement comes across as being okay with every service in the Google Graveyard having been discontinued. My response was to the broader stance of Googl
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Oh, the end of this one particular service, in isolation, sure.
Look, the original response to my comment was essentially "don't use this service because Google has a history of canceling other services". So now, 4 posts into it, we're admitting that isn't relevant here. So what are we doing? I came here to read and talk about this service, not opine about everything Google may have done wrong in the past.
Google releasing an OSS photo printing software? No, that's not really needed.
Exactly.
I was thinking more Buzz, Wave, Nest Secure, Bulletin, Picasa
I along with 99.9999% of the population could not give two shits about Buzz, Wave, Bulletin. I don't fault Google for failing to bend over backwards for the on
But it's a fleeting star.... (Score:1)
My literal first thought was "yeah but it'll be canceled the second I start to like it".
then I decided that no matter how good it may be I would not use it because I simply cannot trust it to exist long enough.
So I get charged $6.99 per month (Score:2)