Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Chris Anderson did a wonderful job with this book. It is fascinating to see the economic trends of today’s digital age. What I find interesting with Chris as well is the fact that he is editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine, periodicals being one of the most damaged industries by “free”. Chris, however, is embracing free and incorporating it into Wired’s business model. He identifies many forms of free in the marketplace and how business models have and are being developed around it. A few reviews and criticisms I’ve read about the book make me wonder if these critics have even read it! The idea is not some interesting version of radical social reform where we ought to give everything away and frolic in the meadows holding hands. It is a very productive economic innovation that is naturally occurring as the marginal costs of digital information fall to near zero. The trick is simply to identify and accept it, thus opening the creative capacity to find unique and new innovations to traditional business modeling. We simply have to turn the ol’ brain back on and think a bit! What happens is a universal win/win. Innovation is more rapid, consumers have more affordable (free) choices for services, and business continues to expand in new ways. There definitely exists an element of creative destruction as some industries are dismantled by new technologies, making way for new businesses or simply requiring old businesses to adapt more readily (some have, some haven’t and are toast). I highly recommend this book.
