Open source = helping customers pay for what they want?
William Bulkeley has a fascinating column [Subscription required for an inane reason] in today's Wall Street Journal. The gist is that the Internet has enabled consumers to pay for what they want, rather than what various industries try to sell them. In Bulkeley's words:
Photo companies made customers pay for 24 shots in a roll of film to get a handful of good pictures. Music publishers made customers buy full CDs to get a single hit song. Encyclopedia publishers made parents spend thousands of dollars on multiple volumes when all they wanted was to help their kid do one homework paper.
The business models required customers to pay for detritus [great word!] to get the good stuff.
Inevitably, their industry revenues are shrinking now that customers can use digital technology and the Internet to select only what they want.
Marketing 101 says success comes from selling things people want. But advanced marketing calls for companies to leverage the relationship to get the buyer to pony up for other products - or at least for extra product. When customers find a way to avoid buying the excess baggage, they change quickly.
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