Earlier quoted context omitted.
And the point is he didn't lose money. Other people bought the app who wouldn't, it seems, off the back of his generous gesture. Note that this certainly would not work for a large company - it only works for a (very) small-scale outfit.
I believe it could and already does work for large companies, but differently. It works so well that we take a lot of it for granted. Look around you, do you know of any big company that came along, offered something with such seemingly good intentions that their offering made the competition look like crooks? I'm sure we could come up with a few examples. Off the top of my head: - I'm reminded of the days when hotma…
You're talking about amazing smash-it-out-the-ballpark-and-out-compete strategies. I'm talking about being generous for no obvious reason and letting it float back in on the tide.