i'm barbara kahn. >> susie: that's "nightl business report"or tuesday, augu 25. i'm susie ghib goodnight everne. and good nig to you paul. >>aul: goodnight susie. i'm paul kangas wishing all of you the besof good buys. "nightly busess report" is made possible by: this program was made possib by contributns to your pbs station from viewers likyou. thank yo captioning sponsored bwpbt captioned media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

she's barbara kahn. dean of the university of miami school of business administration. >> chris anderson, author of the new book "free: the future of a radical price", and others argue that in today's digital age, firms must learn how to be profitable while offering products and services for free. skype, facebook and many iphone applications are certainly examples of how consumers are demanding services for which they pay nothing, hence free. but classifying these models as free misses a critical point and understanding this will illuminate where the profit potential is. our economic system is based on exchange theory, where there are buyers and sellers willing to make an exchange. anderson's notion of free suggests that only one party is putting something into the exchange and that's not a market. but a closer look at these digital examples reveals that they are not free, they just don't cost money... yet. consumers are putting something into the exchange, their time, loyalty, or trust. free television