The how much can be made free race continues
Om Malik commented in his blog on Gizmo5’s launch of a free VoIP calling gateway to Skype users allowing for even cheaper long distance calling. I have been impressed by Om Malik’s previous post regarding Skype, Skype like services, and the “free” business model.
In my mind, this is just another example of how cheap can long distance phone service become. Already in the late 90s, it was thought that the end of toll bypass had come. However, the force of even cheaper and free should not be underestimated since we are still there 10 years later. The innovativeness in terms of coming up with new disruptive services in this area seems limitless.
However, everybody knows that there is no such thing as free since somebody is paying the bills. I am just wondering who is going to pay the bills in the future if this “freeness” trend continues?
February 10th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Free usually carries along advertising revenue. I compare free voip calls with email. I wonder how much revenue the email providers get.