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I can't believe 23andMe isn't free yet. Or more accurately, that a competitor hasn't come in and offered a free version which would force 23andMe to make their
by skizm 8y ago
I can't believe 23andMe isn't free yet. Or more accurately, that a competitor hasn't come in and offered a free version which would force 23andMe to make their product free. The fact that they can get away with _charging you_ to collect and sell your genetic information is nuts. Same goes for Amazon's Alexa.
- wand3r 8y agoWell this aspect of their business is 100% opt in apparently. Maybe a discounted pricing tier would make sense if you opt in but its not as if you are the product. I dont own or understand Alexa because I personally wouldnt use one so I cant comment
- gwern 8y agoThis is almost the case, as far as just the raw SNP genotyping goes. Have you seen the rash of new startups like Nebula or Helix? They can be 'free' in some cases. Which makes sense as the genotyping cost has plummeted to like $20-50 in bulk. But you're underestimating that one of the big draws of 23andMe is their detailed ancestry analysis - which isn't going to be replicated overnight by a competitor - and their related social networking/genealogy aspects, which definitely isn't replicable overnight. I have zero interest in that but I still get contacted every couple of months on 23andMe by genealogy hobbyists looking for more information. (And they also have FDA-compliance on some of their health reports, which isn't easy either.)