Pricing Models to Change
641542
A new study released by Macrovision Corporation finds that US software publishers and enterprise software buyers have differing expectations regarding the future of subscription and licensing models.
472034
Management changes might make this a good value play.
275026
Think through the consequences of your sell decision.
335733
British consumer group Consumers&#39; Association has raised its voice over the iTunes&#39; pricing in the United Kingdom. Most notably, its anger is aimed towards the different pricing model Apple uses for its online music store in European countries.
108947
The past few years have seen companies doing everything they can to reduce costs. From outsourcing and offshoring to RIFs (reductions in force), the byword has been, âCut expenses.â But if most of the economists are right, 2005 will be a much better year, and companies will go back to concentrating on increasing revenue.
176907
Time Warner Cable will try selling consumers broadband service based on how much bandwidth they use, a move that could turn the home broadband pricing model in the U.S. on its head.In a trial planned for later this year in Beaumont, Texas, the service provider will offer four tiers of service at different prices. Customers who used more bandwidth would pay more.The details of the tiered pricing plan haven&#39;t yet been set, according to Time Warner spokesman Alex Dudley. The offer will only go out to new customers, he said.Some service providers charge different rates based on the speed of a service, but in the U.S. they typically allow each customer to send and download as many bits as they like in a month. Under that model, some subscribers who exchanged large files through peer-to-peer services reportedly have been cut off. Comcast, the biggest U.S. cable operator, has said it&#160;sometimes slows peer-to-peer traffic&#160;during peak demand periods.In some other countries, Internet users have long endured bandwidth caps. And Web hosting companies typically charge site owners based on how much data they exchange with visitors.Tiered pricing could help settle the ongoing argument over the fairness of certain subscribers and online content providers using up more network capacity than others, according to Ovum analyst Mark Seery. In fact, he thinks the whole industry will go down this path eventually.&quot;It&#39;s difficult to charge, appropriately, different customers if they have such widely divergent uses of bandwidth,&quot; Seery said. And trying to target one type of application, such as illegal peer-to-peer file sharing, raises political issues, he added.&quot;There&#39;s no justification for blocking legitimate uses of peer-to-peer,&quot; Seery said. &quot;The right focus is on who&#39;s using what [bandwidth] and what they should be charged for it.&quot;Many other transport industries, such as shipping, rail and courier services, charge different rates based on how much the customer uses, Seery said. Some have shifted to that system over time. For example, toll bridge operators once charged trucks based on the value of what they wanted to carry over, and U.S. railroads could arbitrarily carry goods from one customer and not from another, according to Seery. Neither model lasted.Time Warner operates in 33 states but is a relative underdog in the U.S. broadband industry, with 7.4 million high-speed data customers. Comcast has 12.9 million.&#160;
335817
Be careful when presented with methods that claim to time the market.
631228
With a premium valuation, now might be the time to consider selling.
355281
The discount behemoth's out to level prices -- and the competition.
8829
TechWeb - Data center modernization and mobile-phone payments trial signal a shift in the card company&#39;s business model.
31956
The company tightens its forecast on cost concerns.
95173
Chip tariff catches up with recent launches
450166
WASHINGTON -- Executives at the nation's two satellite radio companies released details of pricing plans Monday that would allow customers to choose which channels they want to receive if the two firms are permitted to merge.
440062
EBay is expected to unveil changes to its online marketplace Tuesday that the company characterizes as sweeping and historic and that are aimed at boosting sales by making the shopping experience simpler and safer.The changes, which include lowering some fees and raising merchant standards, will be announced at the company&#39;s eCommerce Forum by John Donahoe, who will&#160;succeed Meg Whitman as president and CEO&#160;in March.Donahoe said last week during a conference call to discuss eBay&#39;s fourth-quarter financials that the eBay marketplace business hasn&#39;t been growing as fast as he would like and that changes would be coming to make the shopping experience easier and safer.&quot;Buyers have become accustomed to streamlined purchasing experiences that put a premium on speed, convenience and reliability,&quot; Donahoe, president of eBay Marketplaces, said last week. &quot;While we&#39;ve made strides in these areas, I&#39;m clear we need to do much more.&quot;On Tuesday he is expected to announce that eBay will introduce an insertion fee reduction in the U.S. Feb. 20 by cutting the cost of listing items by 25 percent to 50 percent. By reducing the impact of items that don&#39;t sell, eBay hopes merchants will list more products. In turn, eBay is increasing the so-called &quot;final value&quot; fees it charges merchants when items are sold.EBay will also do away with fees it charges U.S. merchants for its &quot;gallery&quot; option, in order to encourage merchants to include more photos with their listings. Fee changes will vary by country.In addition, eBay will alter its search engine so that merchants with lower rates of customer satisfaction get less exposure on search results. Meanwhile, sellers with higher buyer satisfaction ratings will get better exposure in search results.EBay will also require a &quot;safe payment option,&quot; such as PayPal or a major credit card, from merchants with lower customer satisfaction and from those in product categories that generate many buyer complaints. Moreover, eBay will also raise the requirements for qualifying as a PowerSeller and update its feedback system.EBay&#39;s fourth-quarter earnings and revenue exceeded Wall Street&#39;s expectations, but its outlook for this year was considered generally disappointing. For example, the conservative 2008 forecast, coupled with slowing growth in the marketplace business, led Citigroup to downgrade the stock to &quot;hold.&quot;&#160;
367244
Consider new ways to make more money.
748666
Shipments go up, prices go down...with more of the same on the horizon.
107032
Airline's planned overhaul of its fare structure could trigger the biggest shift in ticket pricing since Congress deregulated the industry in 1978.