How to control information

I've been quite naive about information up until now. These guys makes the following points about information:

Point 1: Information is costly to produce but inexpensive to reproduce.
The competition between Britannica Encyclopedia and Microsoft's Funk & Wagnalls brings reader into this topic. The cost change of information products is coming up with the shifting of pricing models and corresponding versions of a product to create both the maximum revenue opportunities and establish the largest number of members of the product's network of users.
Strategy: Personalize your product and your prices
There are three ways to pricing information: personalized pricing, group pricing and versioning. Let's analogize those strategies to the modern fashion industry, a fashion designer can tailor dresses specifically for the need of one customer (personalized pricing) or a group of customer (group pricing). At the same time, he/she also designs different styles (different versions of your products) which are hanged in the window of shopping center. This allows customers to select the styles (versions) that best meets their needs and enables you to pick up as wide a base of customers as possible. There are variety of dimensions along which you can version your products: delay, user interface, convenience, image resolution, speed of operation, flexibility of use, capability, features and functions, comprehensiveness, annoyance, support.

Point 2: Switching costs and lock-in
The total cost of switching = cost the customer bears + costs the new supplier bears. In companies' stance, products that can achieve "lock-in" will benefit from the "switching costs" that preclude customers from switching-over to competing solutions. The more successful you are at getting customers more locked-in to your products, the more successful you will be in keeping customers at peak prices.
Strategy:
1.Invest to build an installed base. 2.Cultivate influential buyers and buyers with high switching costs. 3.Get your customers to invest in your technology, thereby raising their own switching costs. 4.Sell complementary products and access to your installed base

Point 3: Positive feedback
The value of your product to new users depends on the total number of other users there are (externalities). As the base of users grows, more and more users add in. In information economy, the companies that have been propelled forward by positive feedback will become the biggest winners. So, it is the ultimate metric of success that each company pursues.
Strategy:
There are four generic strategies in network markets for igniting positive feedback, Controlled Migration (Windows 98), Performance Play (Iomega Zip), Open Migration (fax machines), Discontinuity (records to CDs).

Point 4: Standardization
The key assets in winning standards battle are: 1. Control of an installed base, 2. Intellectual property rights, 3. Ability to innovate, 4. First mover advantages, 5. Manufacturing abilities, 6. Presence in complimentary products, and 7. Brand name and reputation. Preemption and expectations management are two basic marketplace tactics that companies will need to employ.

Point 5: Intellectual property
Given the low cost of reproduction and quick, cheap and invisible distribution, protecting and managing intellectual property are more difficult. Although authors believe that the technological advance offer new opportunities which are far outweigh this rights problem, the solutions recommended here are relatively weak and difficult to carry out.
Strategy:
Take advantage of the lower distribution costs by promoting your products more effectively. Such as giving away free samples to sell the content, selling complementary products, choosing the terms and conditions that maximize the value of your property.