> That assumes that micropayments appear as an improvement over the status quo to payers. > However in an internet where most things are "free" and existin

> That assumes that micropayments appear as an improvement over the status quo to payers. > However in an internet where most things are "free" and existing payment solutions work "good enough" > for the remaining cases, I don't see that. The existing solutions always appear good enough, because they form around what is possible. So they are good enough, for what is possible now. Right now it isn't possible to accept payments unless you get the customer to give you their credit card number (a blank check), thus forcing merchants to put ads on their site to finance it. Ads aren't the revolution of the internet. They're a poor man's replacement for proper financing. And all the companies who can't deliver a product that can be financed by ad revenue are cut out. The only truly victorious player, in the end, is Google, who've become the world's private banker, financing internet pages all around the world, because no one understand the root problem lies in poor financing opportunities. Consumers are happy because they think they get something for free, when they're just paying with personal information, because no proper online means of payment exists. The way things currently work is as much a symptom of what is missing as it's a symptom of what is there.