Adobe sells the flash development software but then does not charge users for the software to play flash on PCs.
Source: bit.ly/HrkNjS
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*Dropbox is widely believed to be profitable even though the company has not released any figures.
Sources: bit.ly/rDOyDy, onforb.es/nX9kM0, bit.ly/ldCCEs
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*Google is profitable but it’s difficult to determine profitability for each product due to their ad based revenue structure.
Source: bit.ly/PGDKFU
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Source: bit.ly/AdkHZB
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30% of revenue from iTunes sales goes to Apple.
Sources: on.mash.to/VAoDi, bit.ly/e3pXG4
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Sources: bit.ly/oWMuGA, b.qr.ae/SRHnqQ
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Craigslist charges for listings on select categories for select markets ($10-75 based on listing and market).
Source: bit.ly/rKxUA
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Fees are charged to sellers for each listing and transaction that occurs through ebay.
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Sources: nyti.ms/S8IbaP, rww.to/Jm0KG0, bit.ly/xKs7cZ
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*Depends on how you look at accounting. In-game purchases of virtual goods and in-game advertising are the main sources of revenue.
Sources: bit.ly/ssn1jC, read.bi/uyXdjY
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Google takes a 30% transaction fee for each app sold, plus profits from in-app advertising.
Sources: bit.ly/N7GHBO, bit.ly/J3dULS
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Google Chrome makes money indirectly through Google search advertising. Google.com is the default search engine for the Google Chrome browser.
*Google is profitable but it’s difficult to determine profitability for each product due to their ad based revenue structure.
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Google Apps for Business gives subscribing businesses more control and security of their documents and data stored online. Users can rent additional storage (shared between Picasa, Docs, and Gmail) from 25 GB (US $2.49 / month) to 16 TB (US $799.99 / month). *Google Enterprise apps is profitable as a whole.
Sources: bit.ly/J1zW1P, zd.net/9CymtX
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Gmail is supported with ads from adwords.
*Google is profitable but it’s difficult to determine profitability for each product due to their ad based revenue structure.
Source: bit.ly/16ZKYL
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No specific information found for Google Voice, but it's widely believed to be not profitable.
*Google is profitable but it’s difficult to determine profitability for each product due to their ad based revenue structure.
Sources: bit.ly/Hq8c2g, bit.ly/MO7DI
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Google's main source of revenue comes through their AdWords and AdSense advertising platforms.
*Google is profitable but it’s difficult to determine profitability for each product due to their ad based revenue structure.
Source: bit.ly/16ZKYL
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Ads on site and throughout embedded videos.
*Google is profitable but it’s difficult to determine profitability for each product due to their ad based revenue structure.
Source: bit.ly/MO7DI
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Shows ads alongside search results. Enterprise Google Maps, a subscription service, is also available.
*Google is profitable but it’s difficult to determine profitability for each product due to their ad based revenue structure.
Sources: bit.ly/xgA2a, bit.ly/16ZKYL
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Groupon takes a cut of every deal that is sold. Launched Groupon VIP.
Source: reut.rs/JchEvA
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Before selling to Facebook they were not making money.
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Quora's revenue stream is still unknown - may not exist yet.
Sources: on.mash.to/dG3zPW, b.qr.ae/SmpmEZ
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*Microsoft OS is profitable. IE is included as part of the OS but would not be profitable as a stand alone product.
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Xbox live charges users $50 annually for subscriptions to their service in addition to the virtual goods that are sold on the service.
Source: onforb.es/Ndj8To
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*The Mozilla Corporation is the profitable section of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. The majority of its revenue comes from royalties paid by search engines.
Source: bit.ly/pa0Jtb
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Source: bit.ly/SSC3WL
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Software is free but subscribers can then purchase additional features that are unavailable as just the free software.
Source: bit.ly/VKegtD
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Added paying for "promoted" tweets.
Source: bit.ly/HEDTWK
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Kickstarter keeps 5% of the money raised for successfully funded projects.
Source: bitly.com/S8c1Nz
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Source: bit.ly/MP9Aky
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Selling Data - Companies and recruiters are able to pay and gain access to LinkedIn databases.
Source: bit.ly/MO4hDn
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Amazon loses money with each Kindle but makes money from digital content sales - aiming to build up an ecosystem for a long-term profit.
Source: read.bi/nboy8P
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Source: bit.ly/sFzjCd
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Revenue from premium themes and paid inclusion to their blog directory - not profitable - investor backed.
Sources: on.wsj.com/J8ZuJD, tcrn.ch/dpmOeL, bit.ly/N8u9J2
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Source: bit.ly/dh5rEM
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WA has a few different apps available for purchase but most of their revenue comes from licensing their API out to enterprise companies. Wolfram Alpha Pro released for a monthly subscription fee.
Source: b.qr.ae/NRT1W5, read.bi/bzd6X2, bbc.in/wXKsWi
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The company makes money through sponsored links and affiliate sales.
Sources: bit.ly/TD29Bf, bit.ly/PiyXtg
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Banner ads and sponsored results.
Sources: bit.ly/QbWs6M, rww.to/biI2YZ
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Same as Stack Overflow - Overflow works inside the framework of Exchange.
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Streaming music as a whole has had difficulty finding a way to be profitable, but no specific details could be found on Grooveshark.
Sources: on.mash.to/Q2RPfM, bit.ly/Oqxu8i, b.qr.ae/fSHntF
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Pandora was notably profitable for the first time in 2011.
Sources: read.bi/urfldg, bit.ly/QxPMTI
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For their free services, users are allotted a certain amount of listening time per month. Afterwards they can opt into one of the paid subscriptions. No definite profitability answer found.
Source: tcrn.ch/nsfbHe
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Free version does not include many features that the paid version does.
Sources: bit.ly/uyliUW, bit.ly/QxPQTq
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Sources: bit.ly/Qb14sB, bit.ly/eFGdmi
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Source: bit.ly/v26CQR
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Source: bit.ly/veneN
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Source: bit.ly/c1DAki
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Source: on.mash.to/Q1WXSs, b.qr.ae/RZFoXg
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