Talking to people at parties about freemium can be a bit of a challenge. I have lost a lot of otherwise attentive listeners while explaining the importance of business model innovation, or the principles behind an economy of non scarcity,
I have found out that there is one thing that can keep people hooked, and that is the positive effects on “those less fortunate”. One of my main motivations for working in this area is the positive ramifications the implementation can have.
When you use a freemium business model, there will be a lot of valuable products released for free, since a main premise of the model is the existence of quality free products. Since everybody is free to use them as they please, these free products also get into the hands of people who could not otherwise afford them.
One example of the effects of this is open source software. I have spoken with people who were implementing open source software in education systems that were not actually well-to-do. The reduced price of software enabled them to invest in hardware and teaching staff.
During the time I have been working with freemium I have targeted my attention on knowledge-based companies. In this field, there are a lot of possibilities for free products to bring about a positive effect on the life of people. Now a consultant company that specializes in a certain area normally charges for their knowledge. If they employ a freemium model, they could release that knowledge and charge only for implementation help. This would put valuable knowledge in the hands of people who otherwise would not have access to it.
Put to practical use, freemium could help poor people get a better education, help run their business better or even help them learn how to purify water in the most effective way.
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