| The point of any service, free or otherwise, should be to deliver some kind of benefit to its users. If it doesn't do that, it has little reason to exist. "Data harvesting," marketing and advertising are far from the only business reasons why a company might want to offer a free service. From a business perspective, a free service might - build goodwill for the company - satisfy legal or government requirements - save money on billing while increasing the value of other goods and services from the company - enable the company to qualify for certain grants or subsidies - support the creation and improvement of goods or services
(such as software) which the company uses - enable the company to influence industry standards - help to acquire future paying customers (e.g. by offering a free student or limited version which can be upgraded with additional paid features) - help to compete against other companies that charge for the same service - act as a loss leader to encourage sales of compatible companion products or accessories etc. |