Invasion of the Amazons

The previous couple of months have witnessed a massacre in tech shares coupled with a frantic re-definition of the web and of each participant in it (so far as content material is worried) 소액결제정책.

This effort is three pronged:

Some corporations are playing on content material distribution and the possession of the attendant digital infrastructure. MightyWords, for instance, stealthily remodeled itself from a “free-for-all-everyone-welcome” e-publisher to a distribution channel of alternative works (primarily by midlist authors). It now goals to feed its content material to content-starved web websites. Within the course of, it shed hundreds of unlucky authors who didn’t meet its (by no means said) gross sales standards.

Others wager the farm on content material creation and packaging. Bn.com invaded the digital publishing and POD (Print on Demand) companies in a collection of lightning purchases. It’s now the most important e-book retailer by a large margin.

However Amazon appeared to have gotten it proper as soon as extra. The web’s personal virtual mall and the previous darling of Wall Avenue has diversified into micropayments.

The Web began as a free medium at no cost spirits. E-commerce was as soon as thought-about a unclean phrase. Web surfers turned used to free content material. Therefore the (very low) glass ceiling on the value of content material made out there via the web – and the necessity to cost clients lower than 1 US {dollars} to some {dollars} per transaction (“micro-payments”). Numerous service suppliers (akin to Pay-Pal) emerged, none turned sufficiently dominant and all-pervasive to represent a normal. Web retailers’ skill to simply accept micropayments is essential. E-commerce (not to mention m-commerce) won’t ever take off with out it.

Enter Amazon. Its “Honour System” is licensed to third social gathering web websites (akin to Bartleby.com and SatireWire). It permits folks to donate cash or impact micro-payments, apparently via its patented one-click system. So far as the web websites are involved, there are two main drawbacks: all donations and funds are refundable inside 30 days and Amazon fees them 15 cents per transaction plus 15(!) %. By far the worst deal on the town.