The millenials, people who grew up with a robust Internet that does more than sell dog food, have a sense of entitlement about not paying for anything. Heck, we get some people on Science 2.0 who object to even having an ad, and we have one-third the ads of every other large science site and no overlays or things they have to click through elsewhere.
Content providers had hoped this would change with the Kindle and the iPad - people were already paying a fortune for the devices, why not pay for content? And they do - if they have no choice. But given a choice, they refuse to pay, says the the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism in collaboration with The Economist Group. With 11% of consumers owning a tablet device, that may mean ill economic tidings as they grow in use.
The current model is clearly flawed but it may be the fault of providers who want it all their way, with their own individual subscriptions. What may be needed for news content is an iTunes For News where people can pay one fee and have one subscription service that makes news aggregation cost-effective and easy on the customer.
Tablet Computer Users Still Won't Pay for News by John Melloy, MSNBC
