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Subject: Re: UKNM: Subscriptions
From: Chris Heathcote
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 15:49:33 +0100


At 1:39 pm -0400 on 10/6/99, Clay Shirky wrote:

>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, there's lots of free content out there.

But how much is worth the bytes it's written in?

If you spend any time searching the Web for information, you realise
how almost any decent information either isn't there or isn't free
(or isn't easily found).

For me, Usenet is the nearest you get to a comprehensive information
source: and yet there are many times, certainly when it gets down to
details and specifics, that no-one's willing to give information for
free (certain technical communities are the exception).

>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.

Or in economic terms, perfect competition: a completely level playing
field, with every company churning out a nearly generic product. In
this situation, every company is a price-taker - in this case, free.

But information isn't a generic product. You pay for quality
information. We've always done this, and although the Internet
negates a lot of information inaccessibilty (due to geography), you
still consume paid-for information, whether on dead wood or in bits
and bytes.

Content is still the killer app of the Web, and if people want
content, they'll pay for content.

c.
______________________________________________________
Chris Heathcote <Head> New Media
http://www.head-newmedia.com/ tel: +44(0)1717377579
http://www.head-space.org/ fax: +44(0)1717377971
______________________________________________________
********************
UKNM is sponsored by Excite UK, visit us at http://www.excite.co.uk.
Email Khalil Ibrahimi khalilatexcitecorp [dot] com (mailto:khalilatexcitecorp [dot] com) to advertise on Excite.
********************
Change your UKNM subscription use http://www.chinwag.com/uknm.html


Replies
  Re: UKNM: Subscriptions, Stefan Magdalinski
  Re: UKNM: Subscriptions, Clay Shirky

Replies
  Re: UKNM: Subscriptions, Clay Shirky

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