Free by Chris Anderson

Free

by Chris Anderson

What happens when advances in technology allow many things to be produced for more or less nothing? And what happens when those things are then made available to the consumer for free? In his groundbreaking new book, The Long Tail author Chris Anderson considers a brave new world where the old economic certainties are being undermined by a growing flood of free goods - newspapers, DVDs, T shirts, phones, even holiday flights. He explains why this has become possible - why new technologies, particularly the Internet, have caused production and distribution costs in many sectors to plummet to an extent unthinkable even a decade ago. He shows how the flexibility provided by the online world allows producers to trade ever more creatively, offering items for free to make real or perceived gains elsewhere. He pinpoints the winners and the losers in the Free universe. And he demonstrates the ways in which, as an increasing number of things become available for free, our decisions to make use of them will be determined by two resources far more valuable than money: the popular reputation of what is on offer and the time we have available for it.
In the future, he argues, when we talk of the 'money economy' we will talk of the 'reputation economy' and the 'time economy' in the same breath, and our world will never be the same again.

Reviewed by remo on

5 of 5 stars

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Fascinante libro del autor de La economía Long tail, que de nuevo sacude los cimientos de lo que tenía por establecido.

En este libro se hace un repaso de os modelos e negocio de la era digital, que pasan o acabarán pasando (y esta es la tesis central del autor) por tener gran parte de los contenidos gratis. Tras el repaso a los modelos de negocios "subvencionados" (material gratis financiado por publicidad) y "freemium" (la mayoría no paga, los muy fanáticos del juego pagan y subvencionan a todos los demás), como principales modelos de negocio, pasamos por la historia de algunas empresas que se han basado en este modelo (Google la primera) y se desmontan las críticas, mostradas al final del libro para que nos resulten ridículas y desinformadas, al modelo del "todo gratis", llamado así por sus críticos, pero que nosotros ya sabemos que no es todo gratis.

Un libro fascinante que convence. Los modelos de negocio en Internet (coste marginal por unidad=0) han cambiado.

El autor acaba de publicar "Makers", sobre el mundo que se nos viene con impresoras 3D. Habrá que leerlo sin falta.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 20 January, 2013: Finished reading
  • 20 January, 2013: Reviewed