Past experiments in micropayments on Twitter have flopped. Could the new “buy now” button be the answer struggling media companies and publishers have been longing for? Paul Armstrong looks at the potential rewards and challenges ahead.
The Bitcoin wallet and exchange platform Coinbase has introduced zero-fee micropayments using the virtual currency. This could be a step towards a system that could support entirely new mobile and online commerce business models.
There is a conventional wisdom in the media industry that micropayments for online content don’t work, but Greg Golebiewski of Znak It says that this isn’t true, and that media companies need to experiment with the model.
Flattr’s Twitter micropayments venture, where people could leave tips for ‘favorited’ tweets, is over. But as that tie-in got shut down, Flattr enabled tips for YouTube videos. The system also works on Instagram and SoundCloud.
Content creators no longer need to brandish a Flattr button in order to receive micropayments through the service. All that’s needed is for a Flattr user to ‘like’ their video, tune or tweet.
UK-based startup ValoBox, which lets publishers sell ebooks by chunks, is launching with a list of publishing partners including O’Reilly in the US and Guardian Books in the UK.
Consumers may not buy all kinds of web content, but Google is now courting publishers who want to charge with a rebooted version of its micropayments system.
Square and Starbucks have entered into a sweeping and wide ranging agreement that would cement Square’s role in the emerging mobile commerce economy. The coffee giant will accept payments through Pay with Square. Square will also process Starbucks’ U.S. credit card and debit card transactions.
Even with the threat of PayPal looming, Square is seeing no slow down. The company told Bloomberg Wednesday that its annualized rate of processed transactions is now up to $5 billion, up from $4 billion a month ago
Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is rolling out a new product, “Google Consumer Surveys,” that lets publishers monetize content through “microsurveys” cr…
