MicropaymentsForAndAgainst

"Micropayments : For And Against". Jakob Nielsen thinks that content must be paid for, and micropayments are essential. Clay Shirky argues that readers hate them.

• JakobNielsen : Micropayents : An idea who's time has come (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980125.html)

• ClayShirky : Micropayments : An idea who's time has gone (http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/12/19/micropayments.html)

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• Update Feb 2009 : People keep trying to resurrect them and Shirky keeps arguing : http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/02/why-small-payments-wont-save-publishers/
• Update June 2005 : MicroPayments/iTunes

• I'm having a /DiscussionWithStumblingTongue

• An entertaining rant http://slumbering.lungfish.com/index.php?p=chargingpeople.1064271013

• Maybe they can work with something like a comic serial because people can judge the value of a new episode based on previous ones : http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/09/comics_and_convergence_part_tw.html#more

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Ron Rivest has a statistical method of collecting Micropayments : http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/048/business/Solving_the_problem_of_micropayments+.shtml

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RedPaper? are doing it : http://www.redpaper.com/

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See also :

• MediaValueChain
• OnBundling
• TheAttentionEconomy (as an alternative)

Contrast :

• (WarpLink) MicroCredit
• (WarpLink) MicroISV

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Hey, I say I win BonusFreakyConnectionPoints for joining this with AllClocksAreClouds because of Shirky's statement : When you disaggregate a newspaper, it becomes harder to value, not easier. By accepting that different people will find different things interesting, and by rolling all of those things together, a newspaper achieves what micropayments cannot: clarity in pricing.

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CategoryEconomics