I suppose, especially if you identify with these lily-white flag holders. I doubt that historically sensitive indigenous people, Africans, Chinese, or Arabs would consider this hilarious.

Especially seeing as how in the recent past, European languages were used in the service of subjugating native peoples and sometimes making them feel like second-class citizens in their own countries.

On-line you need to price against BOTH present and unseen future competitors.
Love to hear your thoughts on pricing Jason. This issue is kicking up a lot of dust.

Over the course of a year the differences between your lower and upper prices amounts to 240 Euros. That, is a pretty penny.

This was to be expected after taking that investment capital. It may be a risk for Babble to change business models mid-stream but it is one they are going to have to take. I think all the polite talk about the negatives of advertising obscures one fact– that they will never be able to turn a profit if they rely on ads. Once you face this fact, it is an easy decision to get rid of ads and all the downside they involve.

In terms of Rosetta Stone being a possible model for Babble, well, I find myself shaking my head. The overhead at Rosetta Stone is huge, they currently have 224 Kiosks selling their products mainly in airports across the U.S. . In their latest annual report they claim that, “our multi-channel marketing and distribution models are fundamental to our success. Specifically, we focus on educating customers about the many benefits of our products and services by leveraging our advertising and kiosk network in order to drive website and call center traffic”.

I doubt this is a model that Babble wants to follow. In fact I'm betting that their business model is much more a mass market model aiming at nibbling away (with feature comparisons) at the underbelly of companies like Rosetta Stone and other high overhead publishers.

A better example of a model to follow is Chinesepod which has also very recently turned its back on the freemium model. I wouldn't be surprised if Babble is following the developments at Chinesepod. In any case, I can't imagine how you go from being free to becoming a premium product in the space of 24 hours especially if you are essentially still offering the same product. Any large price increase would be met with derision and disbelief.

My conclusion is that Babble doesn't want to become a premium priced site but does want to offer a very affordable premium product to the mass market. This move and similar moves by like-minded companies will make it increasingly difficult for premium suppliers like Rosetta Stone to continue charging premium prices in a global market.

All the Best,
markus