[eccr] Can the content providers tame the Internet?

Can the content providers tame the Internet?
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Enjoy it while you can because the free internet as we know it is as
good as over. At least this is what many of the leading content
providers are trying to get us to think.

Their original business model, to make money on advertising and give
away the content for free, is not providing sufficient revenues to
create a going concern. Until recently, there has been no seemingly
viable way for users to make small payments online. But now the
technology that will at least provide the user with an opportunity to
pay for content is entering the marketplace.

Vodafone UK is to introduce a payment method built on the iPIN ePayment
platform. This is based on the "reversed billing" principle and can use
SMS to allow payments from as little as E0.08-E8. It is expected to work
like this: users go onto a website and see content that they want to
view. They then send an SMS to the website. The website returns an SMS
to the user's mobile phone that contains a PIN number enabling users to
access the content. The charge is then added to users' mobile phone
bill. The billing company takes a cut of the transaction and the website
gets paid for its content.

So now that the technology is in place to charge for content, only one
question remains: are users prepared to pay?

Source: http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=10314 -
EuropeMedia.net

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