By Nick Clayton
Right back since the early days of the web, companies such as IBM and Compaq have tried to develop micro payment systems which would allow transactions of as little as a few cents. All have foundered.
This is despite some enthusiastic support, particularly from newspaper and magazine publishers hoping to sell individual articles to a public reluctant to take out longer term subscriptions. The problem with micropayments has generally been a combination of the cost of transactions to publishers or retailers and inconvenience for consumers. Who wants to log into a payment system to spend a few cents?
A Belgian start-up founded by a former IBM executive is adopting a new approach, according to Reuters:
The company, called Paycento, uses the fact that surfers are often logged in any way with their profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.
It means that visitors to a website can pay small amounts with a single click, much in the same way that they would click a 'Share' or 'Tweet' button to post an article on their social network profile.
"Those social identity networks also are really identity providers … so we piggyback on that," Pieter Dubois, the company's 41-year-old founder, said.
Reuters says that Paycento is trying to raise €5m ($6.66m) to cover expected losses over the next two to three years. It also says an unnamed major European media company is testing the service and that Mr. Dubois hoped commercial transactions would start by July at the latest.
Reuters: Web surfers to pay online using Facebook, Twitter
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