Last month you would have read our blog post and message about our plans to introduce a Freemium model in the near future. From that we received an overwhelming number of great comments, facebook wall posts, tweets, etc – firstly, thank you for all your comments, support and feedback!
We took our time to go over everything, taking into consideration your comments and suggestions. Before we introduce the freemium model, we would like to take a moment to address your questions by sharing our thoughts and plans with you and providing more in-depth info. We have answered your questions below and hope you enjoy reading the blog post!
Answering your Freemium Questions
Everyone’s comments were a great way for us to hear what everyone thinks and we have taken these into consideration when going over the freemium model to find ways that will best suit the Mikogo users. Here are the main topics that were raised and our current plans:
- Day Passes – several people wrote that they only use Mikogo once a month (or “once in a blue moon”) and wanted a per-use option rather than a monthly fee. We plan to offer a “Day Pass” which people can purchase and will give them access to Mikogo for commercial purposes for 24 hours. Ideal for people who occasionally use Mikogo for business meetings.
- Different License Durations –on top of the day passes, we will offer options to buy monthly, yearly or lifetime licenses. For example, if you are not sure that you want to immediately get a yearly license, you can buy a monthly license and then decide which license type is most appropriate for you.
- Two Options for Business Users – while there will be a free version for private use, we will also provide two versions for business users: the first is a light version, while the second is a professional version which includes the full Mikogo feature set. We will offer the light version, which includes the core desktop sharing features for meetings, as the most cost-effective way to start using Mikogo for commercial use.
- Free for Participants – a few people thought that the session organizer and the participants all have to pay for a license. This is not the case – only the organizer will be required to have a license when using Mikogo for commercial purposes. Participants can join for free.
- Version 3 Licenses – some people expressed that they want to stick with Mikogo Version 3. We are moving strongly towards Version 4, as it opens many development doors for our future, however we will continue to provide BeamYourScreen Version 3, which will be the exact same as Mikogo Version 3. On top of getting the familiar Mikogo Version 3 feature set and interface, BeamYourScreen Version 3 also includes the added bonus of the HTML Viewer. Licenses will be made available for people so they can use BeamYourScreen Version 3 for commercial use.
- Business User Benefits – while Mikogo business users will be able to use the software for commercial purposes, in addition to this they will also be able to customize the software with their choice of images. For example, you can add your company logo into the Mikogo software interface.
- Non-Profit Use of Mikogo – we understand that there are several charities and non-profit organizations using Mikogo. We will offer discounts to such entities and encourage these users to approach us when we launch the freemium model.
The Mikogo software is now used in over 180 countries for a great variety of desktop sharing uses. We have taken some time considering the different needs and use cases of the Mikogo users when shaping our freemium model. We hope you enjoy reading the above topics and our responses and hope that the upcoming freemium model will suit your continued use of Mikogo!
Kind regards,
Mark and Erik