The Case Against Micropayments
Andrew Odlyzko,
Computer Science,
Sept 30, 2003
This is a pretty good article outlining the case against the adoption of micropayments. Some of the arguments are a bit weak - the analogy from America's slow adoption of debit cards, for example, does not presage a similar slowness to adopt micropayments. Other arguments are stronger: the loss of privacy, 'behaviour economics' (or what Szabo would call the 'mental transaction cost'). But the real barriers are posed not by consumers but by vendors, who would prefer closed and locked-in subscription services. In the end, I don't think that the case against micropayments will succeed. PDF document.
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