Paul Jardine writes about Value Based Pricing this morning, and links to Dean Bubley’s prior post on the topic. He makes the argument that for marginal applications like SMS and voice, flat rate pricing is the only sensible way to go. In general, I agree. However, I am currently back to usage based pricing for my home line, instead of flat rate. Why? At $.02/minute, NuFone is costing me far less than Vonage’s flat rate plan did. I switched when i installed PhoneGnome. NuFone is a prepaid system, which I charged up with a PayPal transaction. Since October 12, 2005, I have spent $21.76 for long distance.
My opinion — voice will soon be an un-metered commodity.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
