This is not about the traditional model of free, that giving away a free sample luring you to buy bulk, or buy-one-get-one-free free. It's about the modern free, when the marginal cost of transistors or bits round close to zero it stops metering.
Google offered 1G free email space when Yahoo was running a lucrative premium email service charging for 25M storage. Craigslist offered free posting when newspapers were making huge money on classified ads. In both cases, they destory an existing industry and create a new one, and use FREE as the magic trick to gain most users. Once estabilished, the early runner prevents the later ones by network effect, where the winner gets all and losers nothing. They create a huge net-value for all just not charging for everything. Only a fraction of the gain can make them super successful.
In other areas, such as free content market (movie, book, music or any media), 5% willing-to-pay users can subsidize 95% free-riders. Musicians make more on concerts giving away mp3s. Authors sell more books in real stores giving away online free reading. Software companies actually allow piracy to gain bigger market share like what Microsoft does in Asia.
1% contributing users can support a community (wikipedia, open documentation, specialized forum). Open-source contributors are motivated by self-actualization, the top of Maslow's pyramid where dollars are not the real reward. Media transit to ad-support content-free model following a long tradition of radio broadcast.
What happens in customers' minds is a psychological transition when they turn-off the picky switch and become more tolerant to free stuff. Information is abundant now then attentions become the scarce resource. And money can be made from their attentions.
The author explains why this book is free, too (both text and audio are free online). Ideas are valuable but also have 0 marginal cost. Once generated, ideas want to spread. He gives away this book to gain reputation/audiences, and be compensated by high-marginal-cost speeches and consulting-gig.
I'd recommend this book to all that interested in the topics above.
Free - the business model when marginal cost round
《免费》热门书评
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在市场经济的今天,谁对<中文版>图书负责??
63有用 2无用 bond 2009-12-16
P91页,把电影wall-E,翻译为"<机器人总动员2>,<机器人瓦力>都可以,可译者翻译为<E墙>真不知道说什么~~~(无语),还有乐部的名字:九寸钉和 收音机头 也挺难为译者的.译者就一点作家的心态都没有.只为了出版而出版??可笑.我在想,他们是不是...
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免不免费不重要,重要的是其后面的规律
44有用 1无用 jordanpan 2009-12-09
免费、不免费真免费、假免费免不免费不重要,重要的是其后面的规律记录一些心得。在免费心理学一章中,谈到了“心智交易成本mental transaction costs”。其实,所有的交易都存在这个心智成本,最终的交易都是交易意愿做的最后决定。也许是图便宜、也许是图它奢华、也许是被上司胁迫、也许是为了拿...
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免费为什么是错的?
38有用 1无用 秋叶 2013-11-09
在传统经济学里认为:商品的价格等于充分市场竞争后的边际成本,这成本通过竞争可以降到最低,但永远不会是零。而一样成本不是零的东西,你通过免费的方式出售,那就是扰乱的市场的价格。不过安德森在2009年出版了一本《免费》的书却宣称:一种新的免费商业模式正在基于互联网产生,而且即将挤垮很多传统市场,它代表数...
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就想说:翻译的真烂~!
24有用 5无用 文亮 2009-11-19
本书的翻译: 蒋旭峰 冯斌 璩静(难打我也把你给打出来, 你们三个真的很烂)中信出版社去死吧~==============20091215更新=======我不是经常读书的人, 看了别人说这本书的观点其实别的书早都说过了, 但我并没有读过别的书, 所以我个人感觉这本书的观点是很不错的 我唯一不满意的...
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从免费到充裕再到共产主义
21有用 2无用 Cain 2010-01-09
写得有些乱,有人看的话希望看过就算 抽烟的人需要打火机,早前上杂货铺买,现在几乎不用自己费钱,酒店、饭堂都可以免费拿。除去zippo啊dupont之类的骚包火机,每位抽烟人士的火机上无一例外的写满了诸如“上...
书名: 免费
作者: [美] 克里斯·安德森
出版社: 中信出版社
副标题: 商业的未来
译者: 蒋旭峰 | 冯斌 | 璩静
出版年: 2009-9
页数: 307
定价: 39.00
装帧: 平装
ISBN: 9787508616384