Friday, March 19, 2010

Free

What one word in the English language can make the mind churn with endless possibilities?

Free.

It has an effect on people.

I just finished the book Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson. Great book. 5 stars. Thought provoking. Blah, blah, blah.

In the world of companies making money on the Internet, the most effective price is no price at all. Do you pay for Google? YouTube? Facebook? Not one red cent. Today's Internet economy is based on being free to the consumer. So how do companies make money?

Another tidbit..."the annual deflation rate of the online world is nearly 50 percent, which is to say that whatever it costs YouTube to stream a video today will cost half as much in a year". The price of storage, processing and bandwidth are all decreasing at a rapid rate. What happens when the price of something continues to approach free?

Obviously, I am not doing justice to a book with a number of fascinating insights and ideas. Do yourself a favor and Check It Out!

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