|
|
|
| ABOUT | ||
| ||
| ||
| SMALL BUSINESS TRENDS brings you daily updates on trends that influence the global small business market. | ||
|
||
 |
|
Anita Campbell, Editor |
|
||
| Past life: CEO, corporate executive, tech entrepreneur, retailer, general counsel, marketer, HR ... (more) | ||
| email me | |
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||
|
||
| FREE BUSINESS MAGAZINES | ||
|
||
|
||
| Trade publications FREE to qualified professionals. No hidden offers and no purchase necessary. | ||
|
||
| |
On Wall Street The Deal Computing Canada |
CIO Employee Benefit Oracle Magazine |
|
||
| 100+ additional titles. Click to browse. | ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ARCHIVES & SEARCH | |||
|
|||
|
|||
| |
Previous Small Business Trends articles can be found at the links below: | ||
|
|||
| |
October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 |
||
|
|||
| |
Or, use the search box below to find a specific post: |
||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
||
|
|
|
| NEWSLETTER |
|
|
|
| Sign up for our FREE Small Business Trends newsletter. (View Current)
We publish regularly and promise we won't share your email address with anyone. (Privacy Policy) |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| SMALL BIZ INFO & RESOURCES | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| BLOGS TO READ DAILY* | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * Don’t have time to read several dozen blogs a day? Pick two or three. Your brain will thank you for it. | |
|
|
|
|
| ONLINE COMMUNITIES | ||
|
||
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
| BLOG DIRECTORIES | ||
|
||
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
|
| THE BUZZ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SPECIAL RESOURCES | |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Small Business Trends Radio Tuesdays, 1:00 PM Eastern U.S. time on Voice America network Click to listen November 1st: Torsten Jacobi, CEO of Creative Weblogging, joins host Anita Campbell. Sponsored by Six Disciplines. Show details. |
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thursday, January 01, 2004 | |
|||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Europe is Leading the Way with Micropayments | |
||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|||||
|
|
A number of startups in the United States and Canada have been in the news this past year with their launches of new micropayments solutions. Yet, a company in Europe -- Germany to be exact -- is leading the way with micropayments.
Firstgate Internet, out of Cologne, has been in operation since 2000. The company boasts nearly 2 million customers, at a time when the North American providers are either still in Beta stage or number their customers in the hundreds and thousands. Micropayments describes a payment system that enables consumers to pay small amounts (often less than $2 USD) for Web content. While each of the micropayments solutions works differently, they all are designed to enable small Websites, independent publishers, writers and artists to sell content affordably and still make money without having all their profit eaten up by credit card transaction fees. See the article at MIT Technology Review for more about the current status of micropayments businesses. Micropayments have the potential to enable small Web businesses, independent publishers, writers and artists to sell content affordably over the Web. One of the main challenges is going to be getting enough small businesses, artists and Website merchants to adopt micropayments. Perhaps the new paid music download services will be enough to feul demand. The other challenge is to make the technology interface simple and easy for consumers to use. |
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
| |||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
More news... more trends... more insight... | |
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|||||
|
Home | Privacy | Terms | SmallBizTrends |
|
|
|
|
|
(c) Copyright 2003 - 2005, Small Business Trends LLC. All rights reserved. |