"which unlike freemium is neither new nor a fad" Because freemium is new and a fad? There's nothing in the article that indicates that freemium is somehow bad

"which unlike freemium is neither new nor a fad" Because freemium is new and a fad? There's nothing in the article that indicates that freemium is somehow bad for your business. Just opinions of a few people. Which don't even contradict freemium. SurveyMonkey 'downplays' its free offering, not stops it. Marco Arment says you should charge for your product, since when is freemium not charging for your product? Freemium is not something businesses do because they're ashamed of making money, it's something businesses do to gain access to a tough market. Do you think people on the streets are handing out newspapers, soft drinks and mini-snacks for free because of charity? It is marketing. Can anyone show me sparrow would have gotten the same amount of attention with close to no marketing budget if it had only the pay-up-front version? How many sales would they have lost to pirating if the ad-supported version was just a trial? Freemium works, figure out what it is that is worth money to your users, and make sure people can get it for their money. Pepsi-Cola would love a way to give their new taste to so many people for free, with almost no distribution costs.