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> Does everyone really want tolls and meters for every click and paywalls everywhere?

No, they don't. I'm developing a technology to make it possible to share a single subscription fee across websites and apps without having to require users to go through a centralised proxy server.

The design allows users to retain anonymity, enables subscriptions to be shared on a usage basis and means that publishers can still retain their other major income streams (ads & paywalls) while getting access to a new one.

The concept only works because it means the subscribing user has no additional cognitive overhead. No tip button to remember to click, no "read more" button to fret over, no worrying about metered content leading to a nasty surprise at the end of the billing cycle.

A single fixed monthly fee and access to ad-free content or apps anywhere.

I've been working on this since 2008 and in the coming 12 months I am preparing to launch my business based on it. Interested persons are invited to contact me -- jacques@robojar.com.



Readability.com tried this, and couldn't get many sites interested in participating. http://blog.readability.com/2012/06/announcement/


Readability was not the first.

Their mistakes:

1. They charged too little.

2. Their model was meant to be "viral" -- enticing sites to join by saying "hey, we have money for you". But it meant they wound up with money sitting around they can't use for anything else. In fact it imposes overhead.

3. Everything had to go through their servers.


How would that work under competition?


The only thing that will ever matter is reaching a network effect inflection point.

Apart from that, I have a patent pending on the core technology.




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