Re: UKNM: Subscriptions

[Clay Shirky]

> I think anyone is prepared to pay for online services provided there is

> some value in it for them.


Well, sure, but this isn't the question anymore. The real question now

is who will pay for anything online given the amount of free content?


Put another way, what services have such low substitutability that

they can charge for access? 


> Yes, people these days are unlikely to pay for pure Net access eg: of

> the type Freeserve offers, but they may pay for premium services offered

> by the freebie players eg: enhanced stock prices etc, etc.


I doubt that. Here's my theory after a month in the UK: 


All businesses are different. All customers are the same.


No matter how much businesses try to convince themselves that the UK

consumers are docile cattle (as BT evidently believed when they wanted

to make internet access cost *more* than metered local calls), once a

service goes free, the UK consumer is as keen to take advantage of it

as are consumers in the American market. Freeserve have showed us

that.


> But as to the question, what are people prepared to pay for?  The answer

> is far from simple, but is likely to be something along the lines of,

> people are prepared to pay for services that they casn't get elsewhere

> for free and even if they can get it for free, they are likely to pay

> for something if it is delivered to them in a better way than the free

> service.


Quite agree about stuff you can't get elsewhere, but precious few

things fall into that category. In terms of delivery, I disagree. I

think one of the key aspects of www.shirky.com and www.sony.com using

the same network is that delivery is no longer a point of

differentiation. 


> And the end of the day, people really want to get value out of whatever

> they read or use, if they can't get that value out of a free offering,

> then of course, this could mean good news for someone who wants to

> charge!


Doubt it. In the real world, its expensive to build a distribution

network. Here, its free, so what it comes down to is competition for

eyeballs. If Company X (e.g. Slate, AOL) charges for something and

Company Y (e.g Salon, Freeserve), then Y grows at the expense of X.


-clay 

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