WEEK 4 – E-readings from Fred Wilson and Chris Anderson
“The Web has become the land of the free” Chris Anderson (2008). Anderson’s article demonstrates why $0.00 is the future of business. He writes an interesting account about King Gillette who practised the notion of making money by giving something away.
I agree with Anderson’s comment about how technology is giving companies greater flexibility in defining their markets. In Anderson’s Youtube video (http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=RZkeCIW75CU) he talks about how a lot of companies are turning into digital companies, which means that more services will turn into software and more products will become downloads. This reiterates Anderson’s point, that ‘every company that becomes digital eventually becomes free.’
I didn’t realise how diverse online advertising could be. The first thing that ‘entered’ my mind when I was reading Fred Wilson’s article about the ‘media business model’ was advertising banners. However, Google, Yahoo, merchandise websites, and e-commerce websites that allow you to sell things directly on your website are other forms of content that is provided free to people online.
Although, Anderson and Wilson raise good points, I don’t think $0.00 is the future of business. Wherever possible people always want to profit, and if everything online is for free then no one will be rewarded for their work. If an artist writes a song and no one buys the CD because they can get it for free then the artist will stop writing because they won’t be rewarded. Therefore, if everything is free then companies will stop providing.
REFERENCES
Anderson, C. (2008). “Free! Why $0.00 is the future of business” in Wired online at http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free
Wilson, F. (2008). “Make money around free content” in Wired magazine online at http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Make_Money_Around_Free_Content
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