‘Free — — the Future of a Radical Price’
‘Free — — the Future of a Radical Price’ by Chris Anderson
Mr Anderson discussed the impact of technology advancement in this book. For instance, the cost of microprocessor, bandwidth and virtual memory storage drops dramatically every five years. Therefore, some IT companies like Google offer services like email and search engines for free. Meanwhile, they found ways to make money. The author investigated the phenomenon and proposed that companies making use of ‘gratis’ strategy while charging consumers by some means will be become a trend.
Here are some enlightening points that the author suggested:
Where Money Doesn’t rule, what does? : In a world where food, shelter, and the rest of Maslow’s subsistence needs are met without having to labour in the fields from dawn to dusk, we find ourselves with ‘spare cycles’ — — energy and knowledge not fully tapped by our jobs. At the same time we have emotional and intellectual needs that aren’t fully satisfied at work, either.
So, the Web exploded, driven by volunteer labour — — it made people happy to be creative, to contribute, to have an impact, and to be recognized as expert in something.
Doubts about free: ‘You can’t compete with free’ — -In fact, it is easy to compete with free: simply offer something better or at least different from the free version. There is a reason why office workers walk past the free coffee in the kitchen to go out and spend $4 for a latte at Starbucks — — the Starbucks coffee tastes better.
Free rules — — the ten principles of abundance thinking:
Rule 4: You can make money from free — — People will pay to save time. People will pay to lower risk. People will pay for things they love. People will pay for status. People will pay if you make them once they’re hooked. There are countless ways to make money around Free.
Rule 9: Free makes other things more valuable — — Every abundance creates a new scarcity. A hundred years ago entertainment was scarce and time plentiful; now it’s the reverse. When one product or service becomes free, value migrates to the next higher layer. Go there.
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