This is unpleasant for many, and will hurt a lot of people who use personal devices at work. Why would Google do something like that? It's not inexplicable: Pe

This is unpleasant for many, and will hurt a lot of people who use personal devices at work. Why would Google do something like that? It's not inexplicable: Perhaps the board feel that they aren't growing or earning fast enough to keep their shareholders happy. Maybe Google have some fears about the future of online advertising and want to diversify their sources of revenue. It could be that the service's free users are costing too much and are an easy way to save money. Either way, it's very unlikely to be a simple matter of avarice. Companies act greedily, but usually for sound (or at least consistent) reasons. One possible benefit I haven't seen anyone else mention: they might finally improve their miserable customer support. That's easier to do when the product you're supporting is bringing in money directly.