Some Questions

Would you continue to use Google if it charged you a very tiny fee for every search? No ads would be displayed in this case.

Similarly, would you continue to use any other web service such as Youtube or Facebook or Twitter if they charged you a very tiny fee ?

I am asking these questions because I have talked to some successful Indian businessmen who operate in traditional sectors. They do not believe in giving away their products and services for free. They are of the opinion that if customers expect your product to be free, then they do not see any value in it. People would pay, and willingly so, if they see value in any product. If the products that I mentioned above started charging, then would any of the current users still continue to use them ? If not, then does it mean that people do not see value in their offerings ?

I understand that the business people I met are from traditional businesses like clothes, mobile handsets, legal services, etc. The products that they provide are never put up in the market for free. And rightly so. So does it mean that an average user would give more value to things that cost money over free things ? Would you rate your mobile handset as more valuable than free Google searches ?

Is it because Google is web-based that its products do not have much overhead costs (as opposed to a mobile handset) ? We should not lose focus of the fact that even hosting a website and maintaining it costs real money. Real resources are used up in server farms. An obscene amount of electricity is gulped down by these farms.

So think over these for sometime. And post your answer in the comments for the question - Would you pay for ad-free Google searches ?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my regular Email Updates!