There are a handful of magazines that occasionally feature great articles, but which don't publish nearly enough about my areas of interest for me to justify subscribing to them. A recent example of this would be the New Yorker having an article written by Tina Fey about her experiences working at SNL. I'm not about to subscribe to the New Yorker just to read this one article and so I suppose I'll have to read the magazine at the library later, assuming of course I can even find the magazine there. If I had the option of instantly buying the article for about a dollar I certainly would. That would be well worth not having to walk over to the library.
This will all be overtaken within the next year by bitcoin and the services built around it. Traditonal payment methods, systems and the e-wallet concept have had their chance, but their time has come and gone.
I agree in general, but maybe not with the timeline. It will take some time to build all the infrastructure - things like this service, on the other hand it should not be too difficult for them to switch to bitcoin once it gets more traction.
OK, perhaps overtaken was the wrong word. But bitcoin will become the main form of micropayments on the web because there is no messing around with banks or credit cards or any of the hassles that those involve. It will allow this kind of business to develop at a pace much faster than previously possible.
Can you elaborate on how you think bitcoin, a digital currency backed by nothing, could replace a solution that can be directly monetized? I don't see bitcoin coming into use outside of a narrow audience, namely very tech savvy individuals/small businesses.
Besides companies not buying into the baseless payment scheme, Bitcoin, for lack of better words at the moment, just doesn't offer the sexiness or appeal of Minno. There is obviously a stark contrast btwn Bitcoin's interface, visual appeal, and ease of use and integration (sort of) and that of Minno.
Minno seems to feel this is true as well, and are hard at work making a payment tool they feel is as simple and powerful as cash, without the political and regulatory trappings of bank-related NFC schemes or credit card tie-ins.
If they can realize that, and make it work for non-US (might be the case, haven't looked at their terms yet), and easy to use, it'd be extremely welcome and I'll certainly use it.
(Micro)payments on the web is still a very underserved area. I don't want to give my credit card details and personal information to pay for a $0.50 magazine issue or software download, or force my users to do this.
(Also, hopefully it will be more reliable than Paypal, to not just block your account for vague reasons)
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[ 7.4 ms ] story [ 64.2 ms ] threadBesides companies not buying into the baseless payment scheme, Bitcoin, for lack of better words at the moment, just doesn't offer the sexiness or appeal of Minno. There is obviously a stark contrast btwn Bitcoin's interface, visual appeal, and ease of use and integration (sort of) and that of Minno.
If they can realize that, and make it work for non-US (might be the case, haven't looked at their terms yet), and easy to use, it'd be extremely welcome and I'll certainly use it.
(Micro)payments on the web is still a very underserved area. I don't want to give my credit card details and personal information to pay for a $0.50 magazine issue or software download, or force my users to do this.
(Also, hopefully it will be more reliable than Paypal, to not just block your account for vague reasons)