Which options do I have to monetize desktop application like TweetDeck

I build desktop application that is integration between Twitter / facebook/ picasa / (can be others ) on speed (build with c++ not AIR).
It is build first for my use . but then people liked it and started to use it .
Its still in very early beta . before I publish to it to the public . which options do I have to monetize it.
So it can generate income.
Thanks

@Meir,

The main issue you have is that only 2-5% of the poeple likely to use your application will actually buy it. This is especailly true if you have hot competition like TweetDeck ... just because its better doesn't mean people will swap if what they have is good enough and they are comfortable.

Thus if you start charging people from day 1 you will limit yourself to a very small amount of the market (if any).

So the options you are left with:

• Freemium. Have a very good version that is and always will be free ... offer premium features to power users or users who have a specific business need like filtering tweets or something. If you can get traction with this at you end up with a few million users then you get your 3-5% who will pay ... BUT this is a 2-3 year play and takes a lot of marketing and luck, especially seeing you are late to the market.
• Advertising driven. This is pretty much the defacto standard for anyone with mass market appeal on a highly competitive space. If you can do what google does and tie the key words to advertising, or what facebook does and know a lot about the user ... then you can charge adverters a lot to advertise to those specific people. You need to control the experience and the size of the ads, nothing worse than sites/apps that put advertising above the reason for being at the site/app.
• Build a market and sell out. If you can't come up with a model and you have LOTS of users, someone will work out how to make money from the user base you have and buy your product / company from you. This again like freemium is a long term gamble.
• Charge for access. If you become a platform that others can put their addon into (like the AppStore) then you can charge other developers for the chance to sell to your customer base.

Personally I think you are looking at either of the first 2 options, or a combination, advertising on the free, removed advertising for the paid.

Does that help at all?