On the other hand, this may be exactly backwards. The banks or other financial services companies are more likely to provide a successful micropayment system when the merchants demand it. Perhaps the critical mass needs to come from a collection of large publishers who view micropayments as essential for their growth and health. Once upon a time we thought micropayments were the only way merchants would deliver small quantities of digital goods. Both of these have substantial advantages from a merchant's point of view.
Subscriptions provide guaranteed income.
If a merchant were to choose between selling digital goods on a one shot basis and selling on a subscription basis, the merchant will choose subscriptions. Although the higher price for a subscription will mean that some of the potential buyers will be lost, it also means that a higher price will be extracted from a number of buyers. Moreover, the guaranteed income gives the merchant much greater ability to plan, provision and grow. Subscriptions have another and perhaps even more important quality. They provide considerable information about the consumer and establish a relationship between the consumer and the merchant.