Story Filed: Wednesday, February 17, 1999 06:29 AM EST
Feb. 16, 1999 (INSIDE MULTIMEDIA, No. 186 via COMTEX) -- Would you hand over
personal information - your income, interests, and Net-surfing and spending habits - in exchange for,
say, a free computer? Heck, yes! That's the answer more than half a million people have given
Free-PC.com since the new company posed the question Monday.
"It's been overwhelming," said spokesman Steve Chadima, "We knew it would be popular, but we
didn't know how popular it would be." (Wired 11 February)
Nearly half a million people have already applied for a free computer at the Free-PC web site (
www.free-pc.com). Ten thousand lucky winners will receive a spanking new Compaq 333 MHz
multimedia PC once the entries have been processed.
IM analysis
In the last issue of Inside Multimedia, IM 185, we discussed the tendency for software and services
to move towards an advertising- supported 'free' model. In 'How free is free?' we explored the
arrival of free Internet access. We unveiled the Infonie scheme to provide a cheap PC in exchange
for an Internet signup. We were however totally unprepared for the speed with which this model is
accelerating. The latest twist springs from the loins of idealab! - the fertile child of Bill Gross, founder
of Knowledge Adventure. The proposition is simple enough: 'Hey guys, why not give PCs away?'
Sounds dumb on the face of it, right? Think about it a little more. If you offer people such a prize in
exchange for some demographic data they will willingly comply. The lucky winners then have to
endure banner advertising as the price they pay, they also have their buying patterns analysed
through the Internet connection.
Dumb or not the idea has sparked a feeding frenzy that has caught everyone by surprise. This is just
the start of something unimaginably big. The arrival of 'free' Internet access was inconceivable until it
arrived and then it was obvious. The arrival of the free PC is unimaginable until it happens, and then
it is obvious. It echoes an idea first voiced by Bill Gates: 'Pay people to watch your advertising'.
The value proposition is unbeatable: you are giving away eyeballs to people who have no eyes. It is
certainly as viable as the present crazy system. You spend a million pounds advertising a product to
millions of people on prime time television in order to reach the few thousand eyeballs. Imagine how
much the advertiser would pay to reach to the potential buyer in a direct way. James Murdoch, the
over- bright scion of Rupert, in his MILIA address, chillingly encapsulated the concept. He reminded
us of that famous remark made by Lord Leverhulme: 'Half the money I spend on advertising is
wasted, the trouble is I don't know which half'. Murdoch added 'Now we do'.
And a computer manufacturer like Compaq might be rather pleased to receive an up-to-date
database of 500,000 people who wish to acquire a new computer. That is what has been achieved
in only seven days. Advertising agencies now have a problem as they see their media budgets
disappearing below the line. The interactive media industry in contrast sees the arrival of a vast new
constituency of users, tempted in by free Internet access and free PCs. We live in interesting times.
Copyright © 1999, Phillips Publishing International, all rights reserved. |
