At face value it appears that the ‘freemium’ business model is extremely consumer-friendly through its offering of a raw version of their service for anyone willing to try it with the later choice to go premium, but how friendly it is relies purely in its moderation.
A clear positive of this model comes from what is implied in its title, and that is the choice of service. A digital company who best explored this positive and how successful it can be is Spotify. The free version of the service is still a useful and complete music tool with only occasional ads, while the premium version still manages to contain good features and additions that feel genuinely worth-it and appropriate once paid for. Not to mention the multiple family packs and fair pricing of around $10 a month make it quite the complete package. As a result of this Spotify has managed to reach 217 million monthly active Spotify users, with 100 million being premium.
In comparison, a negative situation experienced by many consumers faced with this model is the preemptive lock up of services before any quality service has been shown or provided and the sourcing of numerous external ads to pressure a purchase. This has had a huge effect on the app industry, with a loss of credibility of products offered by the App Store and Google Play. Many greedy app developers find themselves trying roping in new customers and quickly locking away the majority of the apps genuine use behind a pay-wall and filling it with ads. I find myself really struggling to download apps in fear that they also abuse these tactics.
Socialiam 
When the freemium model works, it works really well. It’s a way to trial the product and see if it’s worth investing in. Maybe I’m a sucker, but I love the convenience that Spotify Premium offers and I used their free version for a while before finally switching over and I wish I would have done it earlier! I’m not really a strong user of apps but I do check what extra in-purchase items are available when looking at their app in the App Store or Play Store (now that I’m on android!) It’s a decent way of getting a feel of what the app will offer. I like to also read three star reviews as I find they’re the most credible – they’re not going to suck up to the developers but they’re also not too extremely biased and can recognise both the pros and cons of the app. I don’t mind paying for apps if they have a genuine offering but I also understand ads are just one of the only ways they can make money. I’m pretty sure developers have to pay something like $100 a year to the app store just to have their app on it so they have to make money somehow.
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I also enjoy trailing the products, allows us to avoid experiencing regret with our purchases. Very good point about the fee that the App Store charges, i should’ve mentioned that!
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