If you aren’t paying then you aren’t the customer, you are the product.
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A customer emailed me last evening and asked me to justify the price of powerOne for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. At first, I have to admit, I was a little insulted but as I thought about it more I decided it was a legitimate question. In this day and age where every software product seems to be free, why should he pay?
And my answer was pretty straight forward: if you aren’t paying then you aren’t the customer, you are the product.
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The Wall Street Journal recently studied 101 iPhone and Android apps and found these apps were commonly relaying personal data about the user, in some cases current location and in others age, gender, even a user’s contact list, to third parties. In almost all of these cases the WSJ was looking at free apps.
Am I surprised? Of course not. Because if you didn’t pay then someone else did, and that someone else wants as much information as possible. My role as a developer is to satisfy my customer to get more of them to pay me money. If you aren’t my customer then someone else is, and then my job is to satisfy them. And that means providing them with what they need to make decisions, even if it isn’t in your, the users, best interest.
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Google, I think, thrives beautifully in this system. You get free stuff (hurray!) and they get money from advertisers. Google is in the business of collecting every scrap of information they can about you so they can do a better job of selling to advertisers.
There is another benefit to Google: since you aren’t paying for the software then Google doesn’t need to support you. Since you aren’t paying for the software than Google can cancel products at any time without worrying about what you think. After all their customers — advertisers — just shift their dollars to a different Google product.
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But wait, you say! If I don’t use these free products than they don’t have the customer base to sell to advertisers. I’m their customer, too.
Sure, you are. Kind of. But in reality you aren’t. It is in Facebook’s best interest, for example, to keep you engaged but they will only do this to the extent you leave their free service. This means that they will push the boundary of what they can get away with. It means they will, as the saying goes, implement today and ask for forgiveness later.
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There are lots of reasons to pay for software. You want to get support, you want to reward the developer, you want to make sure that the app keeps improving. But the most important one is that you want me, the developer, beholden to you and not to some third-party that doesn’t have your interests in mind.
Always remember: If you aren’t the customer, you are the product. And the customer is the one who pays for it.
Elia Insider 
Spot on observation! I find many savvy customers don’t understand the role reversal present in much of today’s “free” software/service models. You offer a concise explanation. This is much to consider in what you write….
Thanks, Steve! Elia
Awesome write up Elia. You are so correct its not even funny. I wish more people would realize and understand this. Everything is not free and free is not always the best solution.
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Very good, very true. But I have to tell you that you keep using the word “than” when you mean “then”, and it makes me crazy.
Thanks, Brad. Usually I am better with my thans and thens but missed it that day. Wow! Particularly egregious. I have fixed the post and think I caught all of them.
Elia
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Awesome write up Elia. You are so correct its not even funny. I wish more people would realize and understand this. Everything is not free and free is not always the best solution.
As always I appreciate your personal contact with your “customers” like me. I have been using Power One for over 5 years starting with my Palm Pilot and now my iPhone and most recently my iPad. The current price is much lower than when it first came out I am thrilled that you have kept the price low. And the reason for this lower price is because I paid fir the original development cost plus a reasonable profit so you can stay in business and continue to upgrade me. You explanation of the “free” verses pay is right on and it just goes to show how many users don’t understand what they are losing by getting a ao called “free” app….namely they become “free….dumb”. Losing their freedoms of privacy. Pun intended
Jeff
First, thanks for the comments. I am happy you like our software and have stuck with us through the years. This post, though, has nothing to do with profits. I have never publicly commented on how much we generate but the lower price of powerOne in Apple’s App Store has only to do with market dynamics. We have been working on the app for two years to get it to this point. I can tell you that we aren’t making a profit on it at this time. We keep developing the app and keep advancing it in an attempt to generate more sales. Unfortunately the money already paid doesn’t cover any enhancements.
The point here is that no app is truly free. If you aren’t paying, someone else is and that someone else, the one who is paying, is the true customer.