Freemium for all!

As active participants in this wild multimedia world we live in, we have all been exposed to the marketing gravity of the Freemium products.  This week I want to open the discussion about this prominent strategy!

Being of frugal software collecting nature, I can say that if a software package exists that will make my life better in some way, and I don't have to exchange dollars from my pocket, I'm interested.  I have other more important tasks for my dollars than to convert them into hard-drive real estate.  Developers know this feeling all too well and have steered the market with making their products available, in many cases for free.  That's not to say they don't make money from giving you a free product...it's just not as apparent on the surface as the old dollar exchange method of traditional commerce.

On the stage today is a quest to scratch the surface to understanding of why this works so well for the consumer:

Let's breakdown the easy elements:
1) The product is either wholly or partially free to use, install it and you're on your way.
2) Access to the software is usually extremely streamlined, not slowing the easy sale of free goods.
3) It lifts the burden of making a good decision from the consumer, no one wants to make a mistake.

To summarize: "It's cheap, easy, and a no-brainer"

4) Users can usually immediately begin using the product to some purpose.
5) The developer now has a user of their products at the cost of their own investment.
6) The user of the product is more likely to share a free product over a paid product when price is the only difference.

Again summarizing: "Hey try this out, I use it, it's free..." * N

7) Once the ownership train has started there is a natural force that keeps it moving.

Newton summarized this best: "Objects in motion tend to stay in motion."


Did I miss anything obvious in this scratch session?