- Freemium
Freemium is a
business model which works by offering basic services for free, while charging a premium for advanced or special features. The word "freemium" is aportmanteau created by combining the two aspects of the business model: "free" and "premium". [cite web|url=http://www.wordspy.com/words/freemium.asp|title=Wordspy Freemium|date=2006-06-06] The business model has gained popularity withWeb 2.0 companies. [cite web|url=http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/10/01/8387115/index.htm|publisher=Business 2.0 |title=A Business Model VCs Love|date=2006-10-01]Origin
The freemium business model was first articulated by venture capitalist Fred Wilson on
23 March 2006 . [cite web|url=http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/03/my_favorite_bus.html|title=Fred Wilson's blog, A VC]"Give your service away for free, possibly ad supported but maybe not, acquire a lot of customers very efficiently through
word of mouth , referral networks, organic search marketing, etc., then offer premium priced value added services or an enhanced version of your service to your customer base."After describing the business model, Wilson asked for suggestions as to what to call it. Within a matter of hours, over 30 name suggestions were given by his blog readers. One such suggestion came from Jarid Lukin of Alacra, one of Wilson's portfolio companies. Lukin coined the term "freemium", and Wilson and his audience adopted it for the business model. [cite web|url=http://www.linkedin.com/in/jarid|title=Jarid Lukin's LinkedIn Profile] The term has since appeared in
Wired Magazine andBusiness 2.0 , and has been used by prominent bloggers such as Chris Anderson andTom Evslin .37signals is widely considered to be the gold standard "Freemium" success storyWeb 2.0 space.See also
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Shareware References
External links
* [http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/03/my_favorite_bus.html My Favorite Business Model] - Fred Wilson's Blog
* [http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/posts.html?pg=7 Blogging for Dollars] -Wired Magazine
* [http://www.contentmatters.info/content_matters/2006/05/whats_in_a_word.html What's In A Word? Freemium] - Content Matters
* [http://vowe.net/archives/007069.html Name That Business Model]
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