Micropayments Going Mainstream? Not Yet.
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Micropayments Going Mainstream? Not Yet
Micropayments Going Mainstream? Not Yet
01/11/2004 09:24 PMSlashdot Jan 11 2004 8:16PM ET
Debating Micropayments
Debating Micropayments
06/09/2004 02:03 PMClay 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.
The Next Attempt At Micropayments
The Next Attempt At Micropayments
11/17/2003 03:08 PMStop 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.
Successful micropayments?
Successful micropayments?
11/10/2003 11:34 PMMaybe micropayments can be successful. BitPass seems to have at least
a decent collection of merchants. I posted about Peppercoin...
The March Towards Micropayments
The March Towards Micropayments
06/28/2004 11:16 PMreturn of the micropayments...
return of the micropayments...
03/11/2003 02:00 PMseveral years ago "micropayment" was the buzzword and then seemed to
fade into oblivion as so many cool tech ideas...
Have Micropayments Arrived For Real?
Have Micropayments Arrived For Real?
11/02/2003 06:32 PMMaybe this time, as the Net matures, it's genuinely worth a try. By
Dan Gillmor (San Jose Mercury News via MyAppleMenu)
Google Wallet More About Micropayments
For Content?
Google Wallet More About Micropayments
For Content?
06/22/2005 02:17 AMThere'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.
PayPal Slashes Micropayments Fees
PayPal Slashes Micropayments Fees
12/09/2003 07:18 AMSiliconValley.Internet.com Dec 9 2003 6:37AM ET
Internet & micropayments market to grow
23%
Internet & micropayments market to grow
23%
08/13/2004 05:12 AMinSourced Aug 13 2004 9:43AM GMT
MicroPayments and Credit Cards - Game On
MicroPayments and Credit Cards - Game On
06/29/2004 07:09 PM"...because of a patent-pending method of lumping together individual
transactions into one transaction to reduce the cost to the merchant."
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
Digital content spurs micropayments
resurgence
Digital content spurs micropayments
resurgence
09/07/2004 06:38 AMA growing appetite for digital content helps companies that enable
small-ticket online transactions.
A penny for your bits: micropayments to
make a comeback?
A penny for your bits: micropayments to
make a comeback?
11/18/2003 05:33 PMConsidered to be holy grail of paid web content, micropayments may be
finally ready for prime time
I am not mainstream
I am not mainstream
01/01/2004 05:09 PMWith all the "top 10 foo of 2003" lists floating about, I'm becoming
more and more aware how mainstream I'm not. It all started with
reading the Top Searches 2003 from Yahoo! and the 2003 Google
Zeitgeist. I have never used KaZaA, didn't read or see Harry Potter,
haven't seen the new Matrix film, never watched American Idol, and I
don't find Britney Spears attractive. I couldn't tell you what sport
Kobe Bryant plays (and don't care either, thanks). Last...
We're all mainstream now
We're all mainstream now
08/09/2004 11:11 AMOh, bravo! RSS Equalizer - The Day Syndication Jumped the Shark....
Web services hit the mainstream
Web services hit the mainstream
05/14/2004 10:41 AMPersonal Computer World May 14 2004 2:28PM GMT
The Mainstream Mash-Up
The Mainstream Mash-Up
12/17/2004 06:34 PM"The
Mainstream Mash-Up" makes it onto the New York Times' list of
great ideas of 2004. Question #1: Where is Creative Commons here?
Don't they read WIRED at the
NYTimes? Question #2: How "mainstream" is a concocted mash-up between
Linkin Park + Jay-Z? Hats off to them for innovating, but this is just
the tip of the iced-down Rolex.
Watch the
Fine Art of Sampling contest, starting here soon, for the real
deal.
Digital Goes Mainstream
Digital Goes Mainstream
12/28/2004 11:11 PMNew York Times Dec 29 2004 3:30AM GMT
Brian goes mainstream
Brian goes mainstream
06/07/2004 09:49 PMA newsweekly in San Diego is running thirty days of Brian Dear's blog
as a feature story. He's got the cover, no less. Plus, they're paying
honest-to-goodness money. Sweet!...
PSP Hacks and the Mainstream
PSP Hacks and the Mainstream
04/07/2005 01:03 PMPop-ups are going mainstream, report
says
Pop-ups are going mainstream, report
says
06/30/2004 11:03 AMA researcher finds that companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase and
Verizon are among the prime users of pop-up advertising.
Mainstream mashups!
Mainstream mashups!
04/14/2004 06:41 PM
Cool: David Bowie has just launched a new mashup
contest. There's a new ad campaign for Audi cars that features two
of Bowie's songs mashed up. They've decided to throw a mashup contest
to capitalize on this, awarding a new car to the best song that uses
samples from his new album and any older Bowie song. Voting on entries
starts this weekend and the contest ends next month so get your
turntables cranking.
Streaming More Mainstream
Streaming More Mainstream
04/16/2004 09:08 PMInternet.com Apr 17 2004 1:25AM GMT
Podcasts Go Mainstream
Podcasts Go Mainstream
03/30/2005 12:55 AMLess than one year old, podcasting seems poised to go mainstream.
Onc ethe exclusive province of talkative technologists, do-it-yourself
musicians, and obsessed hobbyists, this broadcasting platform has been
embraced lately by some mainstream media. By Tom Spring, PC World
"Out of the Mainstream? Hardly
(washingtonpost.com)"
"Out of the Mainstream? Hardly
(washingtonpost.com)"
12/22/2003 10:09 AMBlogging could be going mainstream
Blogging could be going mainstream
03/16/2003 12:25 PMGoogle, maker of the Web's most popular search engine, created the
biggest blogging stir of late by snapping up San Francisco start-up
Pyra Labs, which runs ...
Cloaking Gone Mainstream
Cloaking Gone Mainstream
02/03/2003 01:53 AMJust about every major site on the net is cloaking in one form or
another. It has taken on so many new meanings and styles over the last
few years that we are left scratching our heads as to what it really
means.
Out of the Mainstream? Hardly
(washingtonpost.com)
Out of the Mainstream? Hardly
(washingtonpost.com)
12/22/2003 05:31 AMHoward Dean Blasts the Washington Post. We Like That! 12/21 .. Out of
the Mainstream? Hardly .. Governor Dean's response .. takes
exception
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16656-2003Dec19.htmltrack
this site | 5 links
Mobl0gging Goes Mainstream
Mobl0gging Goes Mainstream
01/09/2003 01:29 PMinfoSync: Taking blogging to phones. Blogging has become a well-known
expression over the course of the past few years, with...
Beyond the Mainstream
(washingtonpost.com)
Beyond the Mainstream
(washingtonpost.com)
12/19/2003 11:42 AMWashingtonPost has an editorial today .. a worse editorial .. rule one
out
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9995-2003Dec17.html
track this
site | 8 links
Blogs take on the mainstream
Blogs take on the mainstream
12/31/2004 05:14 AMBlogs have shifted the balance of information online, argue experts,
and they are here to stay.
Mobl0gs continue to go mainstream
Mobl0gs continue to go mainstream
03/19/2003 10:25 PMUCP Morgen has announced mobileblog!, yet another weblog service for
wireless carriers. Pictures, sounds, RSS, yada yada....
Blogging terms going mainstream
Blogging terms going mainstream
01/04/2005 07:49 PM
BBC
warns regarding dangers of being "dooced" Not long after making
the
Wired
Jargon Watch, I finally got to see the term
"
;dooced", in action as the BBC posts an article regarding the
growing conflict between employers and employees when it comes to
blogging.
Bluetooth products going mainstream
Bluetooth products going mainstream
05/04/2004 04:45 PMinfoSync May 4 2004 7:53PM GMT
Bluetooth bites into the mainstream
Bluetooth bites into the mainstream
05/05/2004 03:23 PMPersonal Computer World May 5 2004 7:37PM GMT
Bluetooth Ready for Mainstream
Bluetooth Ready for Mainstream
05/05/2004 08:02 PMUnstrung.com May 6 2004 0:20AM GMT
IDC Proclaims Linux Is Now Mainstream
IDC Proclaims Linux Is Now Mainstream
01/04/2005 01:33 PMCNN.com - Blogging goes mainstream -
Mar. 10, 2003
CNN.com - Blogging goes mainstream -
Mar. 10, 2003
03/13/2003 10:25 AMGrok Description matches for Micropayments Going Mainstream? Not Yet.
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