Google will basically need to re-invent their whole business to do this and there are few signs this is where they are going. They still track the hell out of everyone. They still make the overwhelming majority of their money from advertising.
This isn't going to make Google stop being creepy Google. They are just trying to get some of their sideline projects to break even.
Don't they make more by treating their customers as products (though i wouldn't call them customers because they receive no support, whether they pay or not)
How do they make money from giving their users free photo storage? I think the only path for that to be profitable was to grow the username for future subscription revenue.
“As always, we don’t sell your information to anyone, and we don’t use information in apps where you primarily store personal content—such as Gmail, Drive, Calendar and Photos—for advertising purposes, period.”
No, Google's decided that, in the language of their critics, they want users to be customers, not “products”.