As more and more electronics enter our lives, so do subscription services. Some come with mandatory subscriptions, such as the iPhone. Others require none or you can pay as you consume. Add to that the “incumbents”, such as subscriptions to Cable TV or landlines, and it adds up. Thus, I decided to reduce my subscription expenditures by 25% this year. Why 25%? It is an arbitrary number, but it is big enough so I need to think about my lifestyle and what adjustments I need to make in order to reach this goal.
I’m not sure where to start yet. Obviously, Cable TV is one big expenditure that will undergo a stringent review. So is the iPhone (my contract will be up this year) – do I really need to be connected everywhere or is it just convenient to be so? If I were to replace my iPhone, how could I reduce the subscription amount for a new mobile service? Maybe the combination of a Verizon MiFi and a prepaid mobile phone would be the trick, since it would allow me to connect multiple electronic devices under one subscription.
This also means that any new acquisitions will be evaluated how they help me to reach my goal. As stated before, I will most likely get the Apple tablet, if it comes without a subscription, but will definitely not get it if a subscription is required. There might be other gadgets that will have to go through a similar evaluation. This should also serve as a warning to gadget makers: The days when you can simply slap a subscription to a gadget are over. Not with me.
Oh, and my New Year’s Resolution for 2011? It’s already decided: Any subscription service must improve its value by 10% year-over-year (if they raise prices, the percentage of the raise will be added to the 10% value improvement) or it is on the chopping block. Yes, it can be this simple…
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