4 ms·

It's amazing to see the magnitude of declining storage prices laid out so clearly.

jszymborski 2y ago
Their prices do seem to continue to increase though https://www.backblaze.com/blog/2023-product-announcement/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/2023-product-announcement/
- 9cb14c1ec0 2y ago
  I'm sure they like money as much as the rest of us do.
  - sosodev 2y ago
    Backblaze is not profitable
    - sophacles 2y ago
      What type of "not profitable"? By itself that's not a useful statement. Do they have a bunch of cash in the bank? Do they have higher revenue than Cost of Business? Do they have free cash flow? Is it growing? A business that isn't profitable and also isn't growing is a much different beast than a company that is investing its cash reserves to grow the business.
      - gruez 2y ago
        > What type of "not profitable"? By itself that's not a useful statement. They're a public company so you can check for yourself: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1462056/000146205624000033/blze-20231231.htm https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1462056/0001...
      - sgerenser 2y ago
        They're definitely growing, and will likely be profitable at some point in the next few quarters: https://ir.backblaze.com/news-releases/news-release-details/backblaze-announces-first-quarter-2024-financial-results https://ir.backblaze.com/news-releases/news-release-details/... But even on a non-GAAP basis (which excludes stock-based compensation), their net income for the most recent quarter was a loss of $5.5 million.
        AtlasBarfed 2y ago
        That just looks like good accounting.
  - toomuchtodo 2y ago
    Profit is like oxygen, not the point of life but required for survival.
    - anamax 2y ago
      Pure oxygen will kill you at >2 atmospheres of pressure. (That's roughly 30 feet underwater.)
    - gruez 2y ago
      But unlike oxygen, having more money allows you to do more stuff. Once your oxygen needs are satisfied, any more is basically wasted. You could make the argument that money has diminishing utility as well, but it's totally incomparable to the utility curve for oxygen.
    - taskforcegemini 2y ago
      Too much oxygen is as bad as too little, if not worse.
- xboxnolifes 2y ago
  Nobody said labor or land prices have gone down.
  - Dylan16807 2y ago
    They are able to fit 4x as many terabytes into a single server compared to when they launched B2, so it's as if their labor and land prices have dropped significantly. It's fair to criticize the per-TB price increase. Apparently they've been losing money, so from that perspective it makes sense to increase prices, but it doesn't seem like it's based on their costs going up. (The unlimited home backup price going up is a separate matter and has much more cost-based justification.)
    - AtlasBarfed 2y ago
      Honestly, what I'd be interested in is buying basically permanent space. And how much to just pay for 1 TB up front and I never have to pay for it again? With steady decline in storage costs, that should be a sustainable business model. It gives you upfront capital.
      - Martinussen 2y ago
        pCloud will sell you "lifetime" cloud storage - current price for 2TB is 400eur, but they do black Friday/such sales too.
- stubish 2y ago
  Physical drives is just one part of the service. Everything else is subject to inflation. Usual solution is to automate and cut staffing, but we know that often doesn't work out well.

Their prices do seem to continue to increase though https://www.backblaze.com/blog/2023-product-announcement/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/2023-product-announcement/

9cb14c1ec0 2y ago
I'm sure they like money as much as the rest of us do.
- sosodev 2y ago
  Backblaze is not profitable
  - sophacles 2y ago
    What type of "not profitable"? By itself that's not a useful statement. Do they have a bunch of cash in the bank? Do they have higher revenue than Cost of Business? Do they have free cash flow? Is it growing? A business that isn't profitable and also isn't growing is a much different beast than a company that is investing its cash reserves to grow the business.
    - gruez 2y ago
      > What type of "not profitable"? By itself that's not a useful statement. They're a public company so you can check for yourself: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1462056/000146205624000033/blze-20231231.htm https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1462056/0001...
    - sgerenser 2y ago
      They're definitely growing, and will likely be profitable at some point in the next few quarters: https://ir.backblaze.com/news-releases/news-release-details/backblaze-announces-first-quarter-2024-financial-results https://ir.backblaze.com/news-releases/news-release-details/... But even on a non-GAAP basis (which excludes stock-based compensation), their net income for the most recent quarter was a loss of $5.5 million.
      - AtlasBarfed 2y ago
        That just looks like good accounting.
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  Profit is like oxygen, not the point of life but required for survival.
  - anamax 2y ago
    Pure oxygen will kill you at >2 atmospheres of pressure. (That's roughly 30 feet underwater.)
  - gruez 2y ago
    But unlike oxygen, having more money allows you to do more stuff. Once your oxygen needs are satisfied, any more is basically wasted. You could make the argument that money has diminishing utility as well, but it's totally incomparable to the utility curve for oxygen.
  - taskforcegemini 2y ago
    Too much oxygen is as bad as too little, if not worse.
xboxnolifes 2y ago
Nobody said labor or land prices have gone down.
- Dylan16807 2y ago
  They are able to fit 4x as many terabytes into a single server compared to when they launched B2, so it's as if their labor and land prices have dropped significantly. It's fair to criticize the per-TB price increase. Apparently they've been losing money, so from that perspective it makes sense to increase prices, but it doesn't seem like it's based on their costs going up. (The unlimited home backup price going up is a separate matter and has much more cost-based justification.)
  - AtlasBarfed 2y ago
    Honestly, what I'd be interested in is buying basically permanent space. And how much to just pay for 1 TB up front and I never have to pay for it again? With steady decline in storage costs, that should be a sustainable business model. It gives you upfront capital.
    - Martinussen 2y ago
      pCloud will sell you "lifetime" cloud storage - current price for 2TB is 400eur, but they do black Friday/such sales too.
stubish 2y ago
Physical drives is just one part of the service. Everything else is subject to inflation. Usual solution is to automate and cut staffing, but we know that often doesn't work out well.