Nearmap in there early days offered free airial mapping because...

Nearmap in there early days offered free airial mapping because it was a brand new way of doing things. After year of doing this it waa on a subscription base, That started to make money, It wasn't till they they started cloud service that that allowed them to go to use of data
that it kicked off.
Personally I see allot in common with Nearmap , A01 is just coming from a different angle that being inside the house, instead of above.