Wednesday 4 June 2008

Google thinks people willing to pay for online content

Yesterday the World Association of Newspapers told us that:

  • Digital and mobile advertising revenues are projected to grow to more than 150 billion dollars by 2011, a 12-fold growth from 2002.
  • Wireless subscriptions continue to grow, from 1.1 billion in 2002 to a projected 3.4 billion in 2011, an expansion of more than three-fold.
  • Broadband is expected to grow from 51.38 million households world-wide in 2002 to nearly 540 million households in 2011, a growth of more than ten-fold.
  • The mobile customer base has grown from 945 million in 2001 to 2.6 billion in 2006.

According to Google these households will eventually pay for their mainstream online content.

The first question here is - what social and economic demographic do these numbers represent?
Those living in absolute poverty cannot afford the technology and, even individuals or families living in comparative poverty in OECD countries struggle to afford the most basic forms of this technology.
The second question is - will the fact that large Internet players are now thinking in terms of conventional economic models (when looking to expand markets and profits) begin to exacerbate the divide between rich and poor?
Thereby locking even more people out of the full range of news and information sharing sources.

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