GigaOm: Mary Meeker: Mobile Internet Will Soon Overtake Fixed Internet
Wednesday, 14 April 2010, 11:58
"Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley … has released her latest massively detailed “State of the Internet” report, which she has been putting out periodically since 1995. … predicting that within the next five years “more users will connect to the Internet over mobile devices than desktop PCs.”
Guardian PDA blog: What Apple can do for journalism
Sunday, 24 January 2010, 14:10
Mercedes Bunz suggests that establishig iTunes as a payment mechanism for micropayments could be the most significant aspect of an Apple tablet for publishers: "Payment has to be simple and elegant. Click and run, and don't think about it. Apple can offer that: there are more than 100 million iTunes accounts with credit cards already. If the transactions are batched so that the fixed cost is amortised across multiple articles, iTunes can offer readers a simple and elegant way to pay, and readers like that."
paidContent:UK: FT To Launch Day Pass For Online And Mobile This Year
Sunday, 24 January 2010, 13:56
"The Financial Times is gearing up to launch a 'day pass' to access its content online and by mobile this year. But for now it is ruling out charging for individual articles until the right technology is in place."
Media Guardian: Times editor James Harding outlines plans for online charging
Tuesday, 17 November 2009, 14:55
"Pledging to 'rewrite the economics of newspapers', [Times editor James Harding] said the Times would charge for 24-hour access to that day's edition of the paper alongside a subscription model, but dismissed the idea of micro-payments for individual articles."
paidcontent: CNN Launching Pay iPhone App; Live Streaming For $2 Plus Ads
Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 13:50
"[CNN] is charging a one-time $2 fee for the CNN iPhone app that just went live … hoping to take advantage of what execs see as iPhone/iTouch users’ comfort with small, instant transactions."
paidContent:UK: PCUK/Harris Poll: How Much Do Readers Say They’d Pay? Very Little
Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 12:29
"When asked the maximum amount they would be prepared to pay, respondents who read a free news site at least once a month gave us the lowest possible amount in each category – annual subscriptions under £10, a day pass costing under £0.25 and per-article fees of between 1p and 2p."
Paul Graham: Post-Medium Publishing
Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 12:16
"There have always been people in the business of selling information, but that has historically been a distinct business from publishing. And the business of selling information to consumers has always been a marginal one. … People will pay for information they think they can make money from. That's why they paid for those stock tip newsletters, and why companies pay now for Bloomberg terminals and Economist Intelligence Unit reports. But will people pay for information otherwise? History offers little encouragement."
Nieman Journalism Lab: Google developing a micropayment platform and pitching newspapers: “‘Open’ need not mean free”
Tuesday, 15 September 2009, 09:44
"Google is developing a micropayment platform that will be “available to both Google and non-Google properties within the next year,” according to a document the company submitted to the Newspaper Association of America. The system, an extension of Google Checkout, would be a new and unexpected option for the news industry as it considers how to charge for content online."
The Media Business: The Transaction cost problem of newspaper micropayments
Saturday, 22 August 2009, 11:38
Robert G. Picard: "A widely inclusive [cooperative news micropayment] system would encounter the problems of small payouts that have plagued collecting rights societies for authors, composers, and performers. Those systems have found that the costs of managing transactions, accounting and auditing, and conveying funds to rights holders incur higher expenses than the payments due many rights holders and that such a system is possible only when the rights holders and content that generate the most transactions subsidize those that generate the least. … Making money from online journalism … will require fundamental rethinking of the value chain, what content is offered, and how it is produced. It will also require significant thought about what's in it for consumers–something that is glaringly missing from current discussions of starting online payments."
paidContent:UK: FT.com Considering iTunes-Style Micro-Payments Model
Saturday, 8 August 2009, 12:36
"FT.com MD Rob Grimshaw told paidContent:UK in an interview that the site is “exploring the possibility of pay-per-view” and could introduce some form of micropayment model within 12 months."
Roy Greenslade: Exclusive interview with Financial Times chief executive
Tuesday, 4 August 2009, 21:14
"Perhaps his most startling revelation is that the paper's digital income now accounts for 20% of all its revenues, up from 14% in 2007 … Sales of the British FT have dipped in recent months, down about 6% year on year … Meanwhile, subscriptions to FT.com went up by 18%. The paper now has 117,000 individual subscribers on annual deals. It has also sold 650 lucrative licences to corporate clients. … He revealed that the FT is also looking at the possibility of introducing micro-payments, but as an accompaniment for subscriptions, not their replacement."
MediaGuardian.co.uk: Financial Times editor says most news websites will charge within a year
Thursday, 16 July 2009, 11:01
"Lionel Barber, has predicted that "almost all" news organisations will be charging for online content within a year. Barber said building online platforms that could charge readers on an article-by-article or subscription basis was one of the key challenges facing news organisations."
TheStreet.com: Murdoch Talks Media
Friday, 3 July 2009, 14:30
Murdoch on micropayments for news: "I don't think people will pay for it. We're still thinking our way through this and there will be micropayments as part of it, but I'm thinking much more along the lines of subscriptions like The Wall Street Journal does."
FT.com: DMGT considers charging for online content
Thursday, 21 May 2009, 23:07
“The more specialised the information is . . . the more likely to you are to be able to charge for it,” said [DMGT chief exec Martin] Morgan. But he warned that it would be “challenging” to charge for general news in the UK because of free competition from the BBC."
