mag01

Here is my opinion on this new move. I'm going to describe the present scenario, and a possible alternative. I hope it will be useful. At the moment uTorrent is generating 15 - 20M revenue per year. The userbase is around 150M users per month. The math is not that hard, if you add adverts the revenue are hoped to up dramatically. My opinion is that it is definitely an understandable decision to make the company maximize the profit. The point is that I am not sure if this move will really maximize them. Let's consider the present scenario: you add adverts to the new version. and this happens: - you lose reputation and slowly you lose popularity and userbase (how many users can you afford losing in 1 year?) - not everyone is updating to the new version right away (if at all), so you will not be able to push adverts so easily, in the meanwhile you lose userbase because of the above effect - when you start collecting revenues other free clients pop up, from someone that doesn't have to run a company, and this pushes users away too - cracked utorrent versions come up, featuring no adverts. Have you considered all those effects in your business plan? Is this move paying back in the middle and long term? Please keep in mind you're not going to see revenue sky rocketing the day after you release the new version, but the other side effects are quite quick to kick in. I'm not saying you will not cash with this move, I'm just saying it will kill uTorrent in the middle term, and I'm not sure this is what you really want. Even if your plan is to cash in very quickly and then kill the software, this is a risky move. Now let's consider an alternative scenario You follow this idea: features should be for free, services should be for money. This model works better on the Internet and is less risky. In my opinion the alternative way to cash in should follow these guidelines: - improve the payed version of uTorrent, making it lightweight and make a real marketing campaign around it, in the forums, in the torrent communities - put ads on the web control interface. No user will complain if they see adverts on a webpage. Users are free to open it or not. It's an extra service you are providing, it is perfectly fair to display ads. - offer payed android and Ios apps to control the software - setup a VPN or Proxy service, with an option to integrate it into the client (not at the OS level!). This will boost your popularity. This would also let people access blocked online content as Kickass torrents or Piratebay for the ones that can't see them. The market goes this way, people need this feature, and it can definitely be for money. I hope it's not too late to get back on your steps. Users love uTorrent, users are used to it. This is your richness. Best