Over the years, Microsoft has tried many things (including an acquisition attempt that the Justice Department derailed) to compete with Intuit in the small business accounting market. Today, they have announced their next plan, a version of the popular Web 2.0 business model (based on the “shareware” model) called “freemium,” which is, basically, this: Give away a free version that is (possibly) ad-supported, and then sell premium services and upgrades when you get a large and loyal user-base.
Technorati Tags: intuit, microsoft, freeium, small business
