Micropayments via the Web
[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/11/technology/circuits/08next.html]NY Times article[/url] about micro-payments. Third ‘graph from the end of the article:
> Yet Todd Pearson, the managing director for merchant services at PayPal, an
> eBay subsidiary in Mountain View, Calif., that is the principal peer-to-peer
> system for paying online, said the time for micropayments had finally arrived.
> “We think the stars are coming into alignment on this at last,” he said.
Interesting choice of words. “We think the stars are coming into alignment on this at last.”
Way it works here? The fee for the server and network access is paid for via the subscriptions. Means that the content is paying for its rent. No profit, but at least it working for now.
Of course, there’s a steep monthly fee for the service. From my end, Paypal currently collects an average of 15% of the subscription fee. The good news? I don’t ever see the credit card number, and in some cases, the subscription service is handled in a largely anonymous way.
I could beat [url=www.apple.com/itunes/]Apple Computer’s[/url] price, and charge $0.89 per view. Lay in some kind of original soundtrack for the scope? But that still jacks the price up almost a dollar more than it is right now….
Some days, I’m not sure [i]my[/i] soundtrack would fit everyone’s mood, too.