Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Offering basic services
for free while charging apremium for advanced or special features.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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While you might not have heard the term freemium, if you use any Web product that costs you nothing, then you have direct contact with the freemium strategy.
Forbes.com: News Peter Cohan 2011
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These games, downloaded for free, are known as "freemium" games.
Apple Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Over Minors' Purchase Of In-App Goods 2011
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What one calls freemium another calls marketing. reply
Startup School: Wired Editor Chris Anderson On Freemium Business Models Jason Kincaid 2005
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This approach is known as the freemium business model, a term popularized in 2006 by Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures.
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This approach to pricing is called "freemium" - some content is free, while premium content is not.
NPR Topics: News 2009
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Now, the proliferation of so-called freemium titles—those that are free to play, but supported by the sale of virtual goods related to the game—is changing the equation.
Sony Looks for Vitality in Dying Breed Daisuke Wakabayashi 2011
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This so-called freemium model is one that venture capitalists are excited about for Web businesses.
Evernote Raises $10 Million From Investors - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2009
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This so-called freemium model is one that venture capitalists are excited about for Web businesses.
Evernote Raises $10 Million From Investors - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2009
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Yet Spotify's U.S. delay has long been tangled in copyright negotiations with major labels, as the service is based on a so-called freemium model, allowing listeners to stream music free and pay for a more comprehensive service.
latimes.com - News 2011
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Yet Spotify's U.S. delay has long been tangled in copyright negotiations with major labels, as the service is based on a so-called freemium model, allowing listeners to stream music free and pay for a more comprehensive service.
latimes.com - News 2011
thingles commented on the word freemium
Used to indicate something that is free but still has premium value.
October 4, 2007
oroboros commented on the word freemium
A free service/product that is supported $-wise by those who sign up/pay for the premium edition.
August 20, 2009
billprice commented on the word freemium
"Freemium" is a portmanteau of free ("provided without payment") and premium ("high quality" or "an extra bonus"). It is used as an adjective.
A service described as "freemium" or as having a "freemium business model" provides its most basic services for free, but entices customers to upgrade to a paid subscription. Customers usually receive special benefits with their paid subscription that somehow enhance the "basic" service they previously received.
This may be described as a sort of mild bait-and-switch: the service provider reels in the customer with the free service, but then attempts to convert that free customer into a paying customer by selling them on further services.
Internet games often employ a "freemium" business model. Players may make an account and play for free, but they may receive in-game bonuses (money, powers, equipment, etc) in exchange for real-world currency.
In persistent multiplayer games such as Dead Awaken, players who pay for in-game money and equipment enjoy a substantial competitive advantage over non-paying players. In single-player games, a player who pays for extra in-game content is not buying a competitive advantage, but may simply wish to have more in-game money and power to enjoy during play time.
One game often described as freemium in this sense is Zynga's FarmVille:
http://blog.games.com/2010/07/09/facebook-says-so-long-to-the-virtual-gift-shop-starting-august/
Another sense of "freemium" is in the case of a community offering certain intangible benefits to members who donate money to keep the community as a whole afloat. Social news website Reddit recently appealed to its users for voluntary donations of any amount. Those who donated received public recognition in the form of a "trophy" on their user page, as well as a promise of possible unspecified benefits in the future. Some commentators described this as being a type of "freemium" service:
http://mashable.com/2010/07/13/reddit-goes-freemium/
July 14, 2010