Update: Shacknews has updated its story to state "no statements have been made about the Star Wars business model," and attributing Mr. Riccitiello's comments to a misunderstanding. For the time being, then, this appears to be unsubstantiated information.
This is one of those things where I'm hoping to see verification later (on Edge Online, Gamasutra or some similar site). I've always joked that only a KOTOR based MMO could steal me away from COH, but its looking like I might be able to play both without paying $30/month. We'll see. And if nothing else, this would be in everyone's budget (assuming its done right).
There are usually two (well, three) worries that go with free-to-play games with microtransactions:
1. The game is crappy, or "you get what you pay for." Since this is Bioware I'm going to assume the game will be of good quality, play-wise.
2. The game is going to be very "grind" intensive. For those of you who don't know what MMO-grind is, "grind" is basically doing certain things over and over and over again. Usually its a time-sink, and done to get something you want or need.
3. The game will reserve a lot of good stuff for purchase only, forcing you to spend money to actually be able to play the game.
We'll see how this turns out. #2 isn't higly tolerated in the Western market - our "high grind" is nothing compared to Korean titles. #3? We'll see. I usually equate microtransactional items with Time=Money. Either you spend time to get something, or you spend money to get it. Either way you're spending for what you want.
I'm very curious how this would pan out with any console version of the game...
edit: Fear #3, perfectly put.