Comments on: Bill Smacks Down Niklas

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 05:58:03 +0000

I second that Jesse. My first take on that comment was how many willing, paying customers does Bill have.

By: Jesse Kopelman

Jesse Kopelman — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:57:45 +0000

How many people pay directly for Windows? They have it because it came installed on their PC.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 23:55:28 +0000

The business model based on free to user, advertiser supported service, has been in use since day one. Today's challenge is to keep this model alive. More and more access is moving to the inefficient user pay model which is very high overhead. But no service can be provided for "FREE". Ebay just purchased the most expensive e-mail list ever sold.

By: Rick

Rick — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 15:02:50 +0000

Clarification... this economy is no stranger to the ISP portals, but it's a losing battle for a Gizmo standalone. BTW, when is Gizmo going to get bought?

By: Rick

Rick — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 14:58:05 +0000

Bill has a good point, but how many paying customers does Google have? Bill's not used to the new business model, rather old TV model, of network advertising. This assumes Skype someday ventures into ad-based revenue. Which seems obvious. I too question the viability of this entire free phone calling. Looks like a dot com bust for many. Few survive that economy.