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More on micropayments

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Robert Holmes

More on micropayments

Following on from our discussion this lunchtime on micropayments, here's an
O'Reilly article from 2000:
http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/12/19/micropayments.html

Seems to me it makes a good case against micropayments. Given that seven
years on they're not exactly common (when I Google them the top hit is for a
micropayment company called Sepomo - who?), I'd suggest that the article's
case holds up quite well.

Robert
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Tom Johnson

More on micropayments

But how small does it have to be to be "micro"?

I've bought stuff for less than $1 online, in fact I just did so today.
Yeah, it's not fractions of a cent, but a helluvalot cheaper than a gallon
of gas (which, I'm told, is about $8 in the UK. Stop your whining,
gringos).

-T

On 5/23/07, Robert Holmes <robert at holmesacosta.com> wrote:

>
> Following on from our discussion this lunchtime on micropayments, here's
> an O'Reilly article from 2000:
> http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/12/19/micropayments.html
>
> Seems to me it makes a good case against micropayments. Given that seven
> years on they're not exactly common (when I Google them the top hit is for a
> micropayment company called Sepomo - who?), I'd suggest that the article's
> case holds up quite well.
>
> Robert
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>

--
==========================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
www.analyticjournalism.com
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.us

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete."
-- Buckminster Fuller
==========================================
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Robert Holmes

More on micropayments

Good question and one that there doesn't seem to be a whole load of
consensus on. Wikipedia (fount of all knowledge) suggests that the
"traditional granularity" is one cent. And therein lies the problem: even
asking myself the question "is this worth one cent?" has used up more than
one cent's worth of my time (you can probably work out my day rate from that
:-)

Robert

On 5/23/07, Tom Johnson <tom at jtjohnson.com> wrote:

>
> But how small does it have to be to be "micro"?
>
> I've bought stuff for less than $1 online, in fact I just did so today.
> Yeah, it's not fractions of a cent, but a helluvalot cheaper than a gallon
> of gas (which, I'm told, is about $8 in the UK. Stop your whining,
> gringos).
>
> -T
>
>

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Tom Johnson

More on micropayments

And as the dollar falls against the pound and Euro, what is 1-cent REALLY
worth these days.
-T

On 5/23/07, Robert Holmes <robert at holmesacosta.com> wrote:

>
> Good question and one that there doesn't seem to be a whole load of
> consensus on. Wikipedia (fount of all knowledge) suggests that the
> "traditional granularity" is one cent. And therein lies the problem: even
> asking myself the question "is this worth one cent?" has used up more than
> one cent's worth of my time (you can probably work out my day rate from that
> :-)
>
> Robert
>
> On 5/23/07, Tom Johnson <tom at jtjohnson.com> wrote:
> >
> > But how small does it have to be to be "micro"?
> >
> > I've bought stuff for less than $1 online, in fact I just did so today.
> > Yeah, it's not fractions of a cent, but a helluvalot cheaper than a gallon
> > of gas (which, I'm told, is about $8 in the UK. Stop your whining,
> > gringos).
> >
> > -T
> >
> >
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>

Owen Densmore

More on micropayments

Administrator

In reply to this post by Robert Holmes

Late in the discussion, we decided that there were some obvious
successful possibilities.

Times Select: They now charge a $50/yr fixed subscription fee. I bet
they'd do far better having you subscribe to a 5 cent variable
subscription rate, capped at $50/yr. Then folks who only read op-ed
pieces, say, would pay maybe $1-$2 a month. This is win-win because
Times gets lots more subscribers, and the subscribers get a pay as
you use, capped version.

We found a few others, but I forget what they were...

-- Owen

On May 23, 2007, at 5:26 PM, Robert Holmes wrote:

> Good question and one that there doesn't seem to be a whole load of
> consensus on. Wikipedia (fount of all knowledge) suggests that the
> "traditional granularity" is one cent. And therein lies the
> problem: even
> asking myself the question "is this worth one cent?" has used up
> more than
> one cent's worth of my time (you can probably work out my day rate
> from that
> :-)
>
> Robert
>
> On 5/23/07, Tom Johnson <tom at jtjohnson.com> wrote:
>>
>> But how small does it have to be to be "micro"?
>>
>> I've bought stuff for less than $1 online, in fact I just did so
>> today.
>> Yeah, it's not fractions of a cent, but a helluvalot cheaper than
>> a gallon
>> of gas (which, I'm told, is about $8 in the UK. Stop your whining,
>> gringos).
>>
>> -T
>>
>>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org