Gallery: How Your Favorite Tech Companies Make Money
01adobe-flash
Adobe Flash ----------- Until the rise of the iPhone and other mobile devices, Adobe Flash was the most popular way to add video and animation to your website. Adobe still makes a profit from selling its Flash development software, but not nearly as much as it did in the early 2000s. With the rise of HTML5 and Flash-unfriendly mobile devices, then end of Flash's run seems inevitable.
02amazon-prime
Amazon Prime ------------ Amazon's free two day shipping and media streaming subscription service, called Prime, has attracted a lot of users. In fact, Amazon [said in late August](http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1728753&highlight=) that more items are shipped through Prime than Amazon's Free Super Saver Shipping. But that hasn't helped the service become profitable on its own. Still, the product sales it drives, and what Amazon is able to learn about the media business may make it an invaluable loss-leader. Classic Amazon strategy.
03google-android
Google's Android Operating System --------------------------------- Google may license out its Android operating system for free, but it's still making money from it. Thanks to search engine traffic, ads, and a cut of every Play Store sale, Google has pulled in an [estimated $550 million](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/mar/29/google-earns-more-iphone-android) in profit from 2008 to to 2011 from Android.
04spotify
Spotify ------- Hoping to end the trend of actually *buying* a song or album, Spotify launched its freemium music streaming service in 2006. Ever since, the company has been struggling to lure its freeloading users into paying $10 per month for its ad-free offering. A [report](http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/spotify-is-said-to-profit-from-its-subscribers-but-lose-more-luring-them/) released in September 2012 says that for all the money Spotify makes from its Premium subscribers, it loses just as much by streaming music for free.
05evernote2
Evernote -------- Proof that the freemium model works, Evernote is pulling in profits, even though most of its subscribers use the free version of the note-taking service. Evernote says it has 38 million users, with 1.5 million paying customers. Apparently that's enough to tip the service over into the black, according to [CEO Phil Libin](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/business/2011/05/evernote-freemium/).
