Micropayments: Is It The Time?

NYT profiles three startups in the micropayments arena you’ve read a lot about on this site before: BitPass, Paystone (disclaimer: an advertiser) and Peppercoin.

As usual, Clay Shirky has the last word: “There are two costs to buying something,” Shirky said. “The actual dollar cost and the mental transaction cost of stopping and deciding if `X’ is worth the price. As the dollar cost drops, the mental transaction cost becomes a larger percentage of the overhead to making a decision. The minute you put a `buy it here’ interface on low-value content, the overhead is insupportable.”

Related:

Evangelizing For the Small Guy

Will BitPass Break the Micropayments Quagmire?

The Skinny on AT&T’s Web Cents Pre-Paid Content Subscription Card

Peppercoin Receives $1.7 Million in Venture Funding, Launches Service

Micropayment’s Big Potential

The Case Against Micropayments

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