En hier nog een overzichtje met de prijzen na de beta (zodat je ziet wat je eventueel bespaard door eerder te beginnen:
Hier de gewone standaard prijs:
Let me start by explaining our ?List Price.? We have based all of our pricing plans on the List Price, which we will start using sometime next year. The software CD (or download) will be free, and can be freely copied. We are not currently planning a retail box. Prospective members will get a free 14-day trial to check There out. They won?t get any initial Therebucks, but they will be able to try out many things for free by using ?lending machines?, which are launching in the Limited Access version.
At any time during the free trial, people can join There by signing up for a monthly plan or a discounted yearly plan:
- The monthly plan involves a one-time registration fee of US$29.95, and a monthly fee of US$9.95. Therebucks will be included with the one-time fee and the monthly fee. The exact amount of Therebucks has not been defined.
- The yearly plan involves a one-time charge of $99.95, which includes a to-be-defined amount of Therebucks upfront. No additional Therebucks purchases are required.
As we?ll explain in detail below, ?Charter Members? get about half off this List Price, and Beta Testers get an even better deal. Read on!
Eventuele extra services die men kan bestellen (en die betatesters gratis krijgen):
OPTIONAL PREMIUM SERVICES
This section explains the pricing for the Explorer Pack, Music Service, and Voice Service. As a beta member, you will get all of these Premium Services for free because you have come to enjoy these services and expect them as a part of the ?basic? There experience. Going forward, though, we have decided that we should price them separately. This helps keep the overall There price point low, and lets those members who value these services pay for them. It?s really that simple. Here are the details:
- Explorer Pack. After October 12 at 9:00p PST (when the beta test ends), new prospects coming to There will have the option to buy a set of four powerful features that make it even easier to explore There: favorite places, compass, summon, and map links. As a beta tester member, you have already tried these features, and know how great they are. You will get them for free! If the non-beta member wants them, s/he pays a one-time fee of US$10. We didn?t have these features originally, and people had a great time without them. We then rolled them out to universal acclaim. As a start-up, we think it?s fair to find ways to generate revenue, provided that we deliver value. In this case, given the overall low price of There, we are hopeful that many new members will sign up for the Explorer Pack.
- Music. If you are connected by broadband, it?s pretty cool to listen to music together with others in There. That said, some people don?t like the feature. We?ve therefore made it optional by asking for a one-time US$5 activation fee. Paying this fee lets you hear music in There (but remember, Beta Testers get this feature for free). If you want to control the selection of music, you can buy your own jukebox/stereo/boombox, which will be priced in Therebucks.
- Voice. Some people really like voice; others don?t. Voice also incurs bandwidth costs for us in a way that music does not. We have therefore decided to charge a one-time US$10 activation fee, and a monthly charge of US$3.95. By paying this up-front and monthly fee, you get unlimited voice-over-IP calling, in three dimensions, anywhere on the planet Earth. We hope you?ll agree that voice is much better in the Limited Access version. Best of all, as a Beta tester, you get it for free ? no activation fee and unlimited global calling!
We hope our rationale for offering premium services makes sense. We?re trying to make There as affordable as possible, while also letting members pick and choose what they want to pay for. We want There to be fun, and as inclusive as possible.
Charter plan(voor mensen die na de beta maar voor de echte launch inschrijven:
CHARTER MEMBER PLAN
As you may know, this week?s release of There is called ?Limited Access?, since we won?t be open all the time, and since we?ll have a ?velvet rope? in place (?velvet rope? means we will limit the number of people we invite each day in order to ensure everyone has a good experience). We expect to remain in ?Limited Access? mode through the end of 2003 (though we are planning several major releases during that time!). Due to these restrictions (and since we expect to still have a few bugs), Charter Members pay about half of the Regular price. Specifically:
- The monthly plan consists of a US$19.95 one-time registration fee (which includes a 10,000 Therebuck bonus), and a minimum monthly purchase of US$4.95 worth of Therebucks. This means that we automatically sell you US$4.95 worth of Therebucks each month. It?s kind of like a country club where you have to spend so much per month in the restaurant, but you can order anything you like.
- The yearly plan consists of a one-time US$49.95 charge, which includes 20,000 Therebucks upfront. No additional Therebucks purchases are required.
- Members on either plan can order the Explorer Pack, Music Service, and Voice Service as explained above.
As you can see, the Charter Member Plan is about half the List Price. Monthly Charter Members save US$10 up-front, and US$5 per month. Yearly Charter Members save US$50! Plus, both types of members get to grab their avatar name early!
We?re not sure when we will shift from Charter Member Pricing to List Pricing. It will depend on lots of factors. In any case, prices are guaranteed. If members sign up as a Charter Member, they will continue to enjoy that price, even after we move to List Pricing.
FRIENDS AND FAMILY PLAN
Because it?s more fun when your friends and family are There too, we have created a special program: There Friends and Family. It works like this: the first member signs up normally, and then up to 5 people who agree to use the first person?s same credit card number can sign up and only pay a one-time registration fee. Here?s an example: Sue signs up as a Charter Member. She pays US$19.95 and gets 10,000 Therebucks. She also must agree to buy a minimum of US$4.95 worth of Therebucks a month (or she can buy the annual plan for US$49.95, and receive 20,000 Therebucks). Then, Sue can sign up to 5 friends/family members, each using Sue?s credit card, for a one-time registration fee of US$29.95 per friend/family member for a year of There. These friends/family members get 10,000 Therebucks each up-front, but are not required to purchase a minimum amount of Therebucks per month.
We won?t be offering the Friends and Family program to Beta members, since the one-time lifetime member offer is actually better, and since we won?t be ready to administer the Friends and Family program by then. That said, if you refer friends to There and they sign up before October 12 at 9:00p PST, they will also get the special Beta member price (which is a really good deal).
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Sebastiaan op 10-09-2003 11:13
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