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Online backup services are getting creative in their sales and marketing methods.
The next time you download new or updated Java networking software for a handheld connected device, laptop or desktop computer, you’ll be offered a free 30-day trial of Carbonite, a Web service that offers unlimited data backup for monthly ($4.95) or yearly ($55) windows of time.
Java is Sun Microsystems’ 15-year-old standard networking software used to run multimedia programs, including Websites, games and video services, on numerous devices.
This opens a huge new market for small, Boston-based Carbonite, because Java is used on about 800 million computers worldwide and updates are issued two or three times per year. That amounts to billions of marketing invites to use Carbonite per year. Even a small percentage of new takers through this new marketing program could be a windfall for Carbonite.
“We’ve been working on this deal for about a year,” Carbonite CEO David Friend told eWEEK.
Friend said Carbonite now has partnerships with Acer, Packard Bell Europe and Lenovo for free subscriptions to Carbonite, preloaded for online data backup protection. The deal with Sun to piggyback on Java downloads is the first of its kind.
The online backup space continues to be hot, Friend said.
“Everyone is interested in getting into the game,” he told eWEEK. “In a few years, online backup will be part of the preinstall on every PC.
“Why? Because when your hard drive crashes and you lose all your family pictures, you don’t blame Seagate or Western Digital-you blame your PC manufacturer. It’s a big brand liability issue for the PC manufacturers. Carbonite can make that problem go away for a PC manufacturer. Similarly, bundling online backup with anti-virus makes sense and we’re pursuing partnership deals.
“When you look out five years, I think almost everyone will be backing up their PC using services like Carbonite. Broadband is getting cheaper and faster, and disk storage costs are dropping like a rock. The alternatives don’t look very attractive: a) Don’t back up and risk losing everything; b) Buy an external hard drive.
External hard drives are not ideal for backups because they usually sit right next to your computer, Friend said.
“So if someone breaks in and steals your computer, or if it is damaged by fire, flood or virus attack, both the computer and the hard drive will go bye-bye,” Friend said. “Plus they are prone to failure (roughly 3 percent per year die).”
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