Google Sets the Date for the End of XMPP with Google Voice
sdb-:
With a paid service, if you like it enough to pay, and there are sufficient people who think like you think, the provider can make money selling the service. The provider can get market signals by raising and/or lowering the price and/or monitoring competitor pricing and entry/exit.
With a free service, there is no incentive for the provider to continue, and very little feedback as to the value of the service. Is it liked only because it is free?
giqcass:
Quote from: sdb- on November 22, 2013, 07:27:36 pm
With a paid service, if you like it enough to pay, and there are sufficient people who think like you think, the provider can make money selling the service. The provider can get market signals by raising and/or lowering the price and/or monitoring competitor pricing and entry/exit.
Free services make money. Hasn't anyone ever told you nothing in life is free? I can't tell you what the bottom line is on Google Voice but it provides the company with something of value. Monetary or resources. Whatever it is they aren't shutting it down. They are upgrading it. That means it's valuable to them. They have an increasing user base. That means it's valuable for the consumer as well. In most cases Google only makes tiny fractions of a cent. They deal in huge volume.
Quote from: sdb- on November 22, 2013, 07:27:36 pm
With a free service, there is no incentive for the provider to continue, and very little feedback as to the value of the service. Is it liked only because it is free?
Almost all Google services are free to consumers and they are a giant company that continues to expand. They are making money. Bottom line: We can't put a dollar amount on it but Google has an incentive to continue Google Voice.
sdb-:
The difference is indirect (a free service) vs. direct (a paid service) compensation.
Almost all direct also have indirect components, but the balance between indirect and direct determines whose interests will be respected.
So where is google getting their money? They will see, as driven by market forces, to optimize for the payer(s).
If you aren't paying, your interests are of lesser concern.
giqcass:
It does not matter where the company gets the money. The bottom line is always their concern. Whether the service makes money in some fashion is what they care about. I've had Google voice longer then many paid services.
Lavarock7:
For those lamenting the end of free GoogleVoice through Obi, keep these things in mind.
1) There MAY still be a way to do it; there is still plenty of time. Let's see what happens in the next few months.
2) When GrandCentral offered free phone calls, it took quite a while for people to catch on.
Then Google bought Grand Central and more people started using the service.
Then Obihai came up with a way to simply use the service with an actual telephone that did not require web browsers or extra dialing. even more people signed up and started using the service.
If you think about it, the Obi devices got more people involved in VOIP because of GoogleVoice then would have otherwise. Because of that, more people are interested in VOIP and competition for VOIP service is dropping in price.
People are now paying pennies or fractions of a cent per minute for calls that used to pay $30 or more a month for. Obi/GV allowed people to test drive new technology and processes and now may have to pay a small amount to do similar.
Decades ago you could go to a gas station and get air for your tires for free. Now many of those places charge for air.
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