My money’s on Clay. It’s all about the barriers. The thing is, a physical quarter is something you already have. but Bitpass is totally different. If I had to put a quarter in my computer to read a comic, I would. Well, maybe… There’s surely enough to read without spending a quarter. In fact there’s more than I could ever read right now and new content shows up every day. Scott McCloud’s page links to his 20 favorite comics. I didn’t click onto all the links because I immediately found more free ones than I had time to read.
McCloud wants me to sign up with some company I’ve never heard of, and submit personal information while committing to a User Agreement that’s 13 pages long! (I pasted it into Word). Well that’s just totally different from an anonymous sliver of silver. In addition I now have to plop down my time, energy, credit card number, email address, password and three bucks up front that I’ll probably never get refunded. I’m dubious as to whether I’d ever spend the $2.75 remaining on my pass. Paying $3.00 for something that’s worth 25 cents seems inherently silly. Maybe if McCloud charged more I would find his work more valuable.
The challenge for micro-payments is to not only match, but surpass the convenience and universality of cash while somehow evading the stigma of being the commercial system of last resort for the lowest-value goods. Three years after Shirkey’s original article, I still can’t find anything compelling on BitPass’ product list and that makes me think they’re going to die, taking my three dollars with them. Pass.