Conditioning Consumers to Pay
The idea of free has caused a good bit of hysteria to traditional business, and rightfully so. Free has chased many of the major players out of their roles as gatekeepers and thrown them out on the street to contend with the rest of the connected world where everyone has a voice.
Free will become less of a big deal in the near future. Thanks in no small part to app culture consumers are being slowly conditioned to pay for things. The digital download micro-payment revolution spawned by iTunes has effectively, as well as subliminally, reshaped the way consumers think about paying for goods that very well be free elsewhere.
The concept of freemium services has also facilitated the shift in consumer thought. Freemium has pioneered a model of take what you can get, but pay for what you want. Imagine if twitter adopted this model from the outset. It is completely probable that consumer adoption of the service would not nearly be at the level it is now, however who is to say that such a model would not have worked from the get-go.
The recent release of the iPad, and related apps, has brought with it another sub-plot. Internet news brands now seem more hesitant to be so harsh with paywalls when they can be more successful infiltrating the the App Store (in which consumers regularly and willingly plunk down some cash) with a subscription based news magazine app.
The story is far from over, but know this. Consumers are slowly but surely being condition to pay for things that they considered to be inherently free for the taking for so long. Don’t expect News Corp., record labels, and other like media companies to turn their ships around immediately. This conditioning process is not a sprint, it is probably longer than a marathon - but it is happening.
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