Digital content spurs micropayments resurgence

Grok Headline matches for Digital content spurs micropayments resurgence

Google Wallet More About Micropayments
For Content?

Google Wallet More About Micropayments
For Content? 06/22/2005 02:17 AM
There's been a ton of buzz over the idea that Google was working on a PayPal competitor, and it appears that Eric Schmidt and "the powers that be" at Google finally thought it was worth speaking to the press on the matter. In discussing the Google Wallet concept, we did note that it came days after rumors of a Google iTunes-like offering as well, and that actually might tie into what Google is working on. Earlier today, there was increasing speculation that Google was more interested in a system to deliver micropayments for content than direct person-to-person financial transactions -- and that seems to be more along the lines of what Google is admitting to. While not clearly laid out, Schmidt did say that the solution they were working on wasn't really a PayPal competitor, but more of an extension of existing programs. Many people have been saying that it's likely an extension of the payment system they use for handling their paid search ad program, but extending it out to other types of content. This would also fit with Google's new video storage offering, which promised to allow people to charge for the content that people downloaded. While less surprising, this is still a bit disappointing. Micropayments seem to go in and out of fashion every few years, but never actually seem to catch on, mainly because not only do they add a monetary expense, but they have a mental transaction cost in making people stop and think about whether or not it's worth purchasing. That cost is much more expensive than most people think. Also, any micropayment-based system always leaves itself open to competitors who realize that it's going to be much more effective to give the content away, and make money elsewhere.

Fame vs Fortune: Micropayments and Free
Content

Fame vs Fortune: Micropayments and Free
Content 01/07/2004 02:53 PM
Micropayments, small digital payments of between a quarter and a fraction of a penny, made (yet another) appearance this summer with Scott McCloud's online comic, The Right Number, accompanied by predictions of a rosy future for micropayments. To read The Right Number, you have to sign up for the BitPass micropayment system; once you have an account, the comic itself costs 25 cents.

BitPass will fail, as FirstVirtual, Cybercoin, Millicent, Digicash, Internet Dollar, Pay2See, and many others have in the decade since Digital Silk Road, the paper that helped launch interest in micropayments. These systems didn't fail because of poor implementation; they failed because the trend towards freely offered content is an epochal change, to which micropayments are a pointless response.

The failure of BitPass is not terribly interesting in itself. What is interesting is the way the failure of micropayments, both past and future, illustrates the depth and importance of putting publishing tools in the hands of individuals. In the face of a force this large, user-pays schemes can't simply be restored through minor tinkering with payment systems, because they don't address the cause of that change -- a huge increase the power and reach of the individual. - More at http://www.shirky.com/writings/fame_vs_fortune.html

New Digital Photography Search Engine
cuts through the Internet "noise" to
return only relevant Digital Photography
content.

New Digital Photography Search Engine
cuts through the Internet "noise" to
return only relevant Digital Photography
content. 09/03/2004 02:28 AM
New Digital Photography Search Engine uses revolutionary new "automatic preview" function to summarize search results instantly. [PRWEB Sep 3, 2004]

Stalemate on digital content?

Stalemate on digital content? 11/06/2003 05:00 PM
Rights-management schemes are threatening to put customers under proprietary lock and key. And critics warn that Microsoft is gaining too much power, from multimedia to corporate memos.

Stalemate On Digital Content?

Stalemate On Digital Content? 11/06/2003 09:39 PM
Incompatible anticopying technologies known as digital rights management (DRM) are being applied to everything from music files to Microsoft Word documents, and the lack of rules that can make these schemes work together is increasingly prompting calls for a standards revolution. By John Borland (CNET News.com via MyAppleMenu)

Stalemate looms on digital content

Stalemate looms on digital content 11/06/2003 06:09 PM
globetechnology.com Nov 6 2003 5:28PM ET

More Open Access To Digital Content

More Open Access To Digital Content 11/17/2003 04:17 AM
While things like MIT's OpenCourseWare and the new file sharing of lessons from the Berklee College of Music are getting all the attention, the well known iBiblio has been chugging away for over a decade, hosting all sorts of content for free. Years ago, it was known as SunSITE, when it was sponsored by Sun, but it eventually became iBiblio, and is hosted at UNC. It's mostly known for hosting open source software, but is expanding rapidly into all sorts of open content that people all over the world find useful. The guy who runs it seems to understand that there's a value in giving away things for free - and says that he's told folks in the music industry how they're making a mistake in calling music downloaders pirates. He points out that the people who go to the trouble of downloading music are the ones who are most interested in the music, and thus should be the people the recording industry is most excited about.

MS on digital content deal rampage

MS on digital content deal rampage 01/06/2005 09:02 AM
TiVo, MTV and FOX Sports all signed up

Disney to Speed Digital Content Delivery

Disney to Speed Digital Content Delivery 02/10/2004 06:40 PM
The Walt Disney Co. and Microsoft Corp. agreed to work together to speed the availability of Disney movies, TV shows and other digital content on cell phones, personal digital assistants and a new generation of portable media players.

Disney Sees Future In Digital Content

Disney Sees Future In Digital Content 04/05/2005 12:10 PM
Information Week Apr 5 2005 3:29PM GMT

Disney, Microsoft to partner on digital
content

Disney, Microsoft to partner on digital
content 02/10/2004 03:00 AM
The Walt Disney Company will license Microsoft's Windows Media digital rights management (DRM) technology for Disney content on mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and future portable media players, reports Gary Gentile of the Associated Press...

Yahoo links to free digital content

Yahoo links to free digital content 03/24/2005 10:10 AM

Disney and Microsoft team up on digital
content, DRM

Disney and Microsoft team up on digital
content, DRM 02/10/2004 02:44 AM
Disney and Microsoft have announced a partnership in which they will work together on digital media ventures using Disney content and Microsoft technology

Group Seeks to Conform Digital Content

Group Seeks to Conform Digital Content 12/10/2003 03:28 AM
San Jose Mercury News Dec 10 2003 2:10AM ET

Executives' Thoughts on Financing
Content in a Digital Age

Executives' Thoughts on Financing
Content in a Digital Age 02/01/2005 09:50 PM
Here is how a handful of media and technology executives see the world, and their corners of it, evolving.

Nearly half of internet users contribute
digital content

Nearly half of internet users contribute
digital content 03/06/2004 01:55 AM

Nearly one half of American internet users have contributed digital content to cyberculture, according to a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life project .

According to "Content Creation Online" :

• 21% of Internet users say they have posted photographs to Web sites.
• 20% say they have allowed others to download music or video files from their computers.
• 17% have posted written material on Web sites.
• 13% maintain their own Web sites.
• 10% have posted comments to an online newsgroup.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most active demographic group is those under 25.

Hollywood's objections to digital
content may have far-reaching
consequences

Hollywood's objections to digital
content may have far-reaching
consequences 04/09/2004 04:13 PM
Another, however, is to extend power and reach into your life in a way that simply was not possible in the days of VHS. Again, I would submit that this is as much about fair use as it was ever about piracy.

New Web sites to store public's digital
content (SiliconValley.com)

New Web sites to store public's digital
content (SiliconValley.com) 03/26/2005 01:37 PM
SiliconValley.com - Tapping into a growing interest in so-called grass-roots media, two Web sites launched this week that aim to become repositories and clearinghouses for a wide variety of digital content created by the public.

Digital Assets: The Dance Of Content
Owner Acceptance

Digital Assets: The Dance Of Content
Owner Acceptance 11/04/2003 12:10 PM
Tristan Louis writes "Reading stories after stories about the RIAA lawsuits, broadcast flags, DVD holds for the Oscar, etc... I've started to develop a grand theory of digital assets piracy reactions, assessing 4 stages of reactions to piracy. I thought it might interest Techdirt readers." This sounds about right - though, I wonder if there's ever a point where the industry realizes how much time and money they waste in the early stages.

MercuryNews.com | 03/24/2005 | New Web
sites to store public's digital content

MercuryNews.com | 03/24/2005 | New Web
sites to store public's digital content 03/26/2005 07:40 AM
New Web Sites to Store Public's Digital Content

siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/11219984.htm
track this site | 2 links

MarketResearch.Com And Content
Directions, Inc. Announce Agreement To
Implement Digital Object Identifiers

MarketResearch.Com And Content
Directions, Inc. Announce Agreement To
Implement Digital Object Identifiers 07/19/2004 02:52 AM
MarketResearch.com, the leader in global business intelligence representing the most comprehensive collection of published market research available on demand, and Content Directions, Inc. (CDI), the leading commercial DOI Registration Agency, today announced an implementation of digital object identifiers (DOIs) within MarketResearch.com’s content and its related web sites. [PRWEB Jul 19, 2004]

The Resurgence Of Convergence

The Resurgence Of Convergence 01/03/2005 02:58 PM
For a while, it seemed like the idea of "convergence" was going out of style. It would come and go as people talk about various devices and services picking up more features. However, convergence means more than adding a camera to your phone or an internet connection to your TV -- but in figuring out what entirely new opportunities these combinations open up. Om Malik is pointing to a piece by Ramesh Jain suggesting that the future of convergence is about combining content, communication and computing -- but that too many are only focusing on two of the three aspects (or really just understand one of the three). True convergence occurs when a company clearly understands all three, and what the implications are of that convergence beyond feature creep. We've already mentioned that one of the "unexpected" side effects of convergence is that it's also convergi ng business models -- leaving some companies out in the cold when they discover their business model no longer makes sense. Witness Cablevision's ability to give away phone service. Of course, telcos are looking at convergence on their own, and this can be seen in SBC's announcement today that they're workin g on a set-top box that goes beyond what most current set-top boxes do. Basically, they're yet another company trying to create the ultimate "digital entertainment hub" with a DVR, internet access, photo/video/music storage and more. Of course, it's likely they're attacking this from a broadcast (content) perspective, rather than a communication one, but it's pretty clear that these battles are heating up, and companies who aren't figuring out the interplay between content, communication and computing aren't going to be around very long.

WAP makes resurgence

WAP makes resurgence 01/08/2004 08:38 PM
ZDNet UK Jan 8 2004 7:17AM ET

Digital Bazaar Signs Content
Distribution Agreement with CD Baby
Heralding Bold New Music Initiative

Digital Bazaar Signs Content
Distribution Agreement with CD Baby
Heralding Bold New Music Initiative 03/14/2005 04:39 PM
Agreement allows tens of thousands of musicians to create new revenue stream by distributing their music on Bitmunk, a secure next generation file distribution network [PRWEB Mar 14, 2005]

Press Release - NewsGator Technologies
is Chosen for EContent 100 – One of
the Top 100 Companies that Matter Most
in the Digital Content Industry

Press Release - NewsGator Technologies
is Chosen for EContent 100 – One of
the Top 100 Companies that Matter Most
in the Digital Content Industry 12/23/2003 05:45 PM

As RSS & Syndication Trend Continues as Useful Way to Find & Organize Online News & Content, NewsGator Raises the Bar for Customers & the Industry

Denver, CO -- December 23, 2003 -- NewsGator Technologies has been chosen for the third annual EContent 100 List, EContent Magazine’s list of companies that matter most in the digital content industry. The EContent 100 selection process combines editorial talent from EContent and Information Today, Inc., and relies on their collective experience in various corners of the digital content landscape along with their exposure to the visible activities of digital content companies.

Flagship product NewsGator 1.3 is a news aggregator which runs inside Microsoft Outlook and retrieves news from news sites, weblogs, NNTP (Usenet) newsgroups, and other information sources that support the RSS or Atom syndication formats. NewsGator was selected for the content delivery category, which includes tools and solutions for delivering digital content – from aggregation software tools to content delivery networks – as well as for the secure digital payment strategies.

Other categories for this year’s EContent 100 include Classification and Taxonomy, Collaboration & Knowledge Management, Consulting Services, Content Creation, Production & Digital Publishing, Content Management, Digital Rights Management, Fee-Based Info Services, Intranets & Portals, Mobile Content and Search Engines & Technologies. "We are pleased to recognize NewsGator Technologies in our 2003 EContent 100,” said Michelle Manafy, Editor of EContent Magazine.  “We believe that it is tools like NewsGator that can bring syndicated content directly to a very wide audience, and open the door to new and exciting digital content distribution solutions.”

NewsGator 1.3 automatically integrates syndicated news items into Microsoft Outlook folders for users to access immediately or at a later time. New feeds are being published regularly, allowing NewsGator users to easily and seamlessly find and subscribe to new valuable content.   In two weeks at CES, NewsGator Technologies will be demonstrating the next generation of its products, which will dramatically extend its capabilities in the digital content marketplace.

VC Resurgence Breathes More Life into IT

VC Resurgence Breathes More Life into IT 09/17/2004 06:01 PM
Internet News Sep 17 2004 9:45PM GMT

VC Resurgence Breathes Life into IT

VC Resurgence Breathes Life into IT 09/20/2004 04:53 PM
Internet News Sep 20 2004 8:13PM GMT

Broadband Wireless's Resurgence

Broadband Wireless's Resurgence 11/18/2003 12:48 PM
Om Malik writes about how low costs and high bandwidth are bringing back broadband wireless: You'll probably see a lot of articles in the next 12 months that lack the back story to broadband wireless, which Malik's piece contains. Broadband wireless isn't new: in fact, I was corresponding yesterday with Brett Glass, a founder of Lariat.org in Wyoming, which was operating 2 Mbps WaveLAN gear in 1993. In the late 90s, several major telcos invested heavily in licensed-spectrum wireless broadband, buying up licenses in the educational/institutional MMDS/ITU band (2.5 GHz). Congress had authorized holders of geographic licenses in these bands -- holders that included hospitals, schools, etc. -- to sublicense these broadcasting/distance learning/misc. services frequencies to commercial users. Sprint and Worldcom bought up practically all of the MMDS licenses -- Sprint spent a billion on them -- and AT&T used a much higher but licensed band above 10 GHz. None of these operations succeeded because they were using proprietary technology on frequencies that only they could use! Manufacturers were pumping out ever cheaper, lower-powered Wi-Fi and other spread-spectrum gear while the licensed broadband folks saw their costs stay the same. If you're the only customer (or maybe there's two), there's no much competition. Ultimately, broadband wireless by the big boys died, and Om Malik's article traces the resurgence. There are several hundred broadband wireless ISPs in the U.S. -- one source says 1,800, but I think that's a count of cities in which the service is offered, not unique firms. And that's mostly the mom and pops. Malik documents both the growth in firms offering to-the-curb/final-mile service, and also the T-1 and higher replacement companies that can bring in tens of megabytes per second of quality service in a few days. One of the key benefits to broadband wireless is that it can be instantaneous. Once you have the tower secured and fiber or high-speed lines running to it, the line of sight is your oyster as an operator....

Top Broadband, Telecom and Entertainment
Execs Head For Vegas To Tout Content
Delivery Via Digital Media Partnerships

Top Broadband, Telecom and Entertainment
Execs Head For Vegas To Tout Content
Delivery Via Digital Media Partnerships 08/12/2004 02:07 AM
The anticipation of large revenue streams flowing from the digital delivery of content is fueling a whole series of innovative partnerships among content and pipeline companies, including leading operators, programmers, studios and distributors. Away from the commotion of large expo events, top executives from major broadband, telecom and entertainment companies are planning to pursue potential deals and development of opportunities at Kagan's Digital Media executive summit in Las Vegas, Sept. 22-23. [PRWEB Aug 12, 2004]

The March Towards Micropayments

The March Towards Micropayments 06/28/2004 11:16 PM

Micropayments Going Mainstream? Not Yet

Micropayments Going Mainstream? Not Yet 01/11/2004 09:24 PM
Slashdot Jan 11 2004 8:16PM ET

return of the micropayments...

return of the micropayments... 03/11/2003 02:00 PM
several years ago "micropayment" was the buzzword and then seemed to fade into oblivion as so many cool tech ideas...

The Next Attempt At Micropayments

The Next Attempt At Micropayments 11/17/2003 03:08 PM
Stop me if you've heard this one before... Suddenly, new micropayment technologies are hot, and everyone is talking about the billions of dollars that could be made by selling content for just a little bit of money. All of these estimates use silly math. They talk about how a large number of little transactions adds up to a large number. That may be true, but it makes a huge, unstated, assumption: that there will be a large number of transactions. Notice that the article linked here never looks at things from the consumer side to see if people actually want to be nickeled and dimed for every piece of content they find online. There may be some places where micropayment fees will work - but it's going to be difficult to make significant money that way. First off, people pay money to get online because they want to access content. If everything is going behind a paid wall, suddenly they feel like they're getting double-billed. Why do they need to pay to get online if there's nothing there? Furthermore, each bit of "paid content" competes with free content. Admittedly, if the blocked off content is very very good or comes with some other advantages, some people will pay for it. However, the vast majority of folks will hunt out a "good enough" substitute that they can find for free. Also, the article completely ignores the important comparison that content providers need to make if they're going to block off content. It talks about the potential to make money off of micropayments, but that's a useless number by itself. The important point is whether or not they can make more from micropayments than they could from offering free content supported by some other business model? I can see plenty of content providers jumping on this bandwagon because they haven't been able to figure out how to properly create an online site that makes money - but they may discover that it doesn't do them very much good. There is some content for which micropayments will work - but it's a very limited set - and most content providers aren't going to think this out before throwing up a paid wall.

Debating Micropayments

Debating Micropayments 06/09/2004 02:03 PM
Clay Shirky got a lot of attention last year for his essay on why micropayments don't work - focusing mainly on the addition of "mental transaction costs" as an additional cost above and beyond the monetary micropayment cost. Not everyone has agreed (especially those involved with micropayment companies). Vin Crosbie has now chimed in to explain why Shirky is wrong about micropayments by saying that the mental transactions of micropayments don't always need to stop the transaction. As an example, he points out that people pay for water, telephone calls and electricity in micropayment fashion and never seem too bothered by it. This is true - but what's missing is that in all three cases these are both necessities and there are (or, in the case of telephone, were) no other options for providers. When there's no competition, you can charge and people will accept it - especially if it's a basic necessity. However, when competition does come about, the pricing starts to drop, and the idea of additional fees-per-transaction start to go away. Witness what is happening with the telephone industry. With the rise of VoIP systems, almost all telecom companies in the US are now offering some sort of flat-rate deal where there are no micropayments for each transaction. In the case of undifferentiated content, where there are plenty of other content providers online (with the possible exception of very specialized content), it will be very difficult to charge any form of micropayment.

Successful micropayments?

Successful micropayments? 11/10/2003 11:34 PM
Maybe micropayments can be successful. BitPass seems to have at least a decent collection of merchants. I posted about Peppercoin...

Micropayments Going Mainstream? Not Yet.

Micropayments Going Mainstream? Not Yet. 01/11/2004 04:53 PM
DotEdu writes "Today's NY Times has an interesting article on two new micropayment companies, BitPass and Peppercoin, and the venerable PayPal. More ...

Google's IPO Signifies the Resurgence of
Search

Google's IPO Signifies the Resurgence of
Search 04/30/2004 10:03 PM
In laying the groundwork for its stock offering, Google is marking a turning point for the search industry and proving that a relatively new way of selling ads can make money.

Chip industry predicts 2004 resurgence

Chip industry predicts 2004 resurgence 11/07/2003 07:44 AM
Computer Weekly Nov 7 2003 7:20AM ET

Have Micropayments Arrived For Real?

Have Micropayments Arrived For Real? 11/02/2003 06:32 PM
Maybe this time, as the Net matures, it's genuinely worth a try. By Dan Gillmor (San Jose Mercury News via MyAppleMenu)
Grok Description matches for Digital content spurs micropayments resurgence
GrokA matches for Digital content spurs micropayments resurgence

Digital content spurs micropayments resurgence

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