A fool's paradise: Was Instagram too free to last?

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Following Facebook's astonishing US$1 billion acqusition of mobile photo-sharing app Instagram, Gizmag ponders whether free services are a fool's paradise (Photo: Rick Turoczy via Flickr)

This is the sort of thing that goes on Instagram (Photo: Ari Helminen via Flickr)

Kittens, sunsets, rainbows - Classic Insta-fodder (Photo: siegertmarc via Flickr)

Screenshot of the Pinboard online-bookmarking service

A fool's paradise: Was Instagram too free to last?

Maciej Ceglowski highlights the problem faced by rapidly-growing free services (Image: Maciej Ceglowski)

Article Summary

Following Facebook's astonishing US$1 billion acqusition of mobile photo-sharing app Instagram, Gizmag asks whether a take-over of the service, which is free to download and use and which eschews in-app advertising, was inevitable; and ponders whether free services are a fool's paradise.