Vlad
Spotify has 250 million subscribers, paying similar to what Kagi costs, and Kagi is arguably a better use of one's money as it makes people more productive and more competitive in the modern world.
Here's what Kagi tells me about Spotify:
Based on the available information, here are the key points about Spotify's regional pricing:
Spotify prices can vary significantly around the world, ranging from as low as $0.66 per month to as high as $16 per month.
The cheapest places to get Spotify Premium are countries like Nigeria, Egypt, and Pakistan, where it can cost less than $1 per month.
In contrast, Spotify Premium is most expensive in developed countries like Denmark, where it can cost up to $15.84 per month.
The price differences are due to Spotify's regional pricing strategy, which takes into account factors like local purchasing power and competition.
Again, if nobody sees a problem, there's nothing to solve, but then there's also no need to bend the facts in the process. 😉
It seems to me like some of the posters in this thread have fairly limited understanding of the world economy and the concept of money, but luckily, that's not really relevant for this topic. Only two things seem relevant:
- Kagi NEEDS to earn more money than they spend (or else they will fail financially).
- Kagi WANTS to bring their version of the internet into homes worldwide (or else they will fail their mission statement).
Ironically, those goals are not so far from Google's (who aim for profits and world domination), so it's not like the problem hasn't been tackled before. As I've pointed out above, Google's solution is to have the users in the countries with the highest GDP subsidize the poorest. Doesn't mean that Kagi has to do it as well, but it's not like it hasn't been done before, and it somewhat disproves the claim that search cannot be discounted - the only prerequisite is that you make enough money overall.
As C1231 pointed out, another vector would be to find ways in which Kagi can save money (and I do think there's quite some potential). These savings could be used to either finance regional pricing, or to lower the nominal fee for all.
Logically, yet another approach would be to find additional sources of money. OldMan973471 hinted at this, although I find it frighteningly unimaginative to assume it can only be achieved by "selling out". Check out this thread for example - that's what it's all about.