How to get people to pay for content? They never did, but they will pay for access, which is what they have done! http://bit.ly/axtdKt
The simple answer is that people probably won’t pay for content, but that’s OK because hey never have. People have paid for access to content (cable TV, DVD rental, newspapers, CD/LP/Cassette) but rarely paid for the sort of content we’re now thinking of charging.
Now that we know that, it’s time to revise, rethink and revisit business models; particularly considering that access to content in digital form can also be freeish (you’re still paying for the Internet connection).
In all this they’re not paying for data. They’re paying for access to content, the data plan or the subscription just happens to be the way they do it. That’s why when I’m advising a publisher or programmer, I encourage them to focus on access. Make more content available, on more devices, in the most convenient ways possible. Today, that might mean developing a beautiful iPad app for a magazine, but tomorrow that means developing a new content experience altogether, with personal clippings, recommended stories, all of it socially enhanced to reflect not just what I what to read but what my community is reading and discussing. That is a type of access, too, and it’s one that goes beyond what Google can return as a search result.