All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
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All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
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Re: All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
#2>> The subscription model was originally conceived by the utility companies that needed to keep providing a service over a prolonged period of time to their customers. The original subscription service was milk which had to be delivered fresh every day
No. "16th century Germany also saw subscription-based, handwritten news. Those who subscribed to these publications were generally low-level government officials and also merchants."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_newspaper_publishin...
That is just newspapers. The concept of a per-month or per-year rate for access a service has been a thing since at least ancient Rome.
Re: All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
#3Subscriptions make sense for things that you get a regular recurring supply of, like milk and newspapers. They might make sense for things that you can get regular upgrades for, like software (although often the "upgrades" aren't really worth much). But they make no sense at all for durable goods that can last for years without significant upgrades, like cars. The whole point with such goods is that you pay once and you own them for their entire useful life.
(Actually, there is a subscription-type business model for cars; it's called "leasing". And the only people who do it are people who can afford to be fleeced. It makes no sense at all for an ordinary car owner. I once had a car dealer try to sell me a lease deal when I was there to pick up a new car. His deal had a larger monthly payment than the loan I already had pre-approved from my credit union, and the residual after 3 years--what I would have to pay then to own the car outright--was more than the balance on the loan would be at that point. I asked the dealer how it could possibly make financial sense for me to take such a deal. He had no answer.)
Re: All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
#4Wet dreams
Re: All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
#5Gaming is ahead here, they thought subscriptions was the future 15 years ago and everyone tried to make subscription games. Then free to play with microtransactions came around and completely turned that on its head, microtransactions generates way more revenue than subscriptions!
It might not apply to every field, but it is wrong to say that everything will turn into subscriptions.
Re: All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
#6Subscriptions make sense for things that you get a regular recurring supply of, like milk and newspapers. They might make sense for things that you can get regular upgrades for, like software (although often the "upgrades" aren't really worth much). But they make no sense at all for durable goods that can last for years without significant upgrades, like cars. The whole point with such goods is that you pay once and…
How it makes sense is simple - people who lease cars don't pay the final payment. They give the car back and lease a new one. That way they pay a bit more for a few years, but they avoid most of the cost of deprecation that they'd lose if they owned the car at that point.
If you plan to buy a car and own it for a long time then leasing is silly. If you plan to keep a car for no more than a few years then leasing is a pretty good option.
Re: All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
#7Gaming is ahead here, they thought subscriptions was the future 15 years ago and everyone tried to make subscription games. Then free to play with microtransactions came around and completely turned that on its head, microtransactions generates way more revenue than subscriptions! It might not apply to every field, but it is wrong to say that everything will turn into subscriptions.
Microsoft Gamepass is a subscription for gaming that is very popular. Netflix are building something similar right now. No doubt Sony have their own version in the works too.
Re: All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
#8Gaming is ahead here, they thought subscriptions was the future 15 years ago and everyone tried to make subscription games. Then free to play with microtransactions came around and completely turned that on its head, microtransactions generates way more revenue than subscriptions! It might not apply to every field, but it is wrong to say that everything will turn into subscriptions.
Some in the gaming industry tried/are trying hard to make Netflix of gaming subscription work.
Micro transactions work right now but maybe tomorrow it is subscription based gaming again.
Re: All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
#9Subscriptions make sense for things that you get a regular recurring supply of, like milk and newspapers. They might make sense for things that you can get regular upgrades for, like software (although often the "upgrades" aren't really worth much). But they make no sense at all for durable goods that can last for years without significant upgrades, like cars. The whole point with such goods is that you pay once and…
Here in Denmark at least, there are quite a few car-on-demand services and apps by now. Cars are very (very!) heavily taxed in this country so that makes it hard to say that it indicates a global trend but there is definitely a trend.
Re: All businesses will eventually turn into subscriptions
#10Subscriptions make sense for things that you get a regular recurring supply of, like milk and newspapers. They might make sense for things that you can get regular upgrades for, like software (although often the "upgrades" aren't really worth much). But they make no sense at all for durable goods that can last for years without significant upgrades, like cars. The whole point with such goods is that you pay once and…
Tesla also is kind of subscription based