Comments on: Micropayments: a failure? http://joeanderson.co.uk/blog/2008/07/19/micropayments-a-failure/ A blog by a Brit about Web 2.0, the Internet and technology in general. Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:19:02 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: OkinKun http://joeanderson.co.uk/blog/2008/07/19/micropayments-a-failure/comment-page-1/#comment-482978 OkinKun Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:38:27 +0000 http://joeanderson.co.uk/blog/?p=813#comment-482978 I recently read the book “Rainbows End”, and in it is portrayed a future where micro-payments are common for almost everything you do, in relation to the digital world… Thankfully I doubt this will ever become the norm. The book was written a few years back, during the time when micropayments were starting to be tried out by various online companies. Thankfully, for the most part, all attempts have completely failed, or did poorly. Users HATE micropayments, plain and simple, and it is impossible to create a micropayment system that they like, due to the nature of such a thing. Doesn't matter if content providers assume such a thing is necessary, when it comes down to it, micropayments are the result of greediness and capitalism run-a-muck. It has nothing to do with the content creators liking it or not, the users will have the end say in this. And simply put, they wont participate in systems that use micropayments, microtransactions, or any other system that charges you frequent small fees for useless digital junk. Digital information is intangible, and extremely temporary. And such a payment system is EXTREMELY incompatible with digital freedoms, not just because users like free stuff... But because implementing a system of micropayments requires restricting the users freedoms, strict security, and often prevents the user from participating in creating their own stuff, or customizing. The question is not should we use such a system or not... The REAL issue here, is that we need to start fixing the online money problem at the SOURCE... Which is broken due to the way service providers currently charge their users. ISPs over charge for internet, and limit bandwidth in ways which are simply not necessary at this point. I recently read the book “Rainbows End”, and in it is portrayed a future where micro-payments are common for almost everything you do, in relation to the digital world… Thankfully I doubt this will ever become the norm. The book was written a few years back, during the time when micropayments were starting to be tried out by various online companies. Thankfully, for the most part, all attempts have completely failed, or did poorly.

Users HATE micropayments, plain and simple, and it is impossible to create a micropayment system that they like, due to the nature of such a thing. Doesn’t matter if content providers assume such a thing is necessary, when it comes down to it, micropayments are the result of greediness and capitalism run-a-muck.

It has nothing to do with the content creators liking it or not, the users will have the end say in this. And simply put, they wont participate in systems that use micropayments, microtransactions, or any other system that charges you frequent small fees for useless digital junk. Digital information is intangible, and extremely temporary. And such a payment system is EXTREMELY incompatible with digital freedoms, not just because users like free stuff… But because implementing a system of micropayments requires restricting the users freedoms, strict security, and often prevents the user from participating in creating their own stuff, or customizing.

The question is not should we use such a system or not… The REAL issue here, is that we need to start fixing the online money problem at the SOURCE… Which is broken due to the way service providers currently charge their users. ISPs over charge for internet, and limit bandwidth in ways which are simply not necessary at this point.

]]> By: Summary of “Advertising is Failing” on TechCrunch http://joeanderson.co.uk/blog/2008/07/19/micropayments-a-failure/comment-page-1/#comment-446001 Summary of “Advertising is Failing” on TechCrunch Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:18:42 +0000 http://joeanderson.co.uk/blog/?p=813#comment-446001 [...] boom. One notable failure was Salon. There are countless others, and a lot of discussion about micropayments and their problems. While I think that mixing advertising and content can lead to a conflict of interest, it has [...] [...] boom. One notable failure was Salon. There are countless others, and a lot of discussion about micropayments and their problems. While I think that mixing advertising and content can lead to a conflict of interest, it has [...]

]]> By: Trone http://joeanderson.co.uk/blog/2008/07/19/micropayments-a-failure/comment-page-1/#comment-311514 Trone Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:07:04 +0000 http://joeanderson.co.uk/blog/?p=813#comment-311514 While I agree that it's been an uphill battle, it still needs to happen -- and the exchange fees charged by credit cards are one of the main obstacles to making it work financially. Ted Leonsis's company Revolution Money is doing the best in this category right now, and I hope more people catch on to using it, to support the business. BTW, the service can also be used just like PayPal, but without incurring any fees to the receiver (seller). For more info, Google "revolution money" micropayments and use the link at http://trone.net/revmo to sign up. While I agree that it’s been an uphill battle, it still needs to happen — and the exchange fees charged by credit cards are one of the main obstacles to making it work financially. Ted Leonsis’s company Revolution Money is doing the best in this category right now, and I hope more people catch on to using it, to support the business.

BTW, the service can also be used just like PayPal, but without incurring any fees to the receiver (seller).

For more info, Google “revolution money” micropayments
and use the link at http://trone.net/revmo to sign up.

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