In fact, my very very first recollection of hearing Lightning was how it could be used to make sub-satoshi payments (less than 1 satoshi), if I recall, it was a discussion about what happened when 1 satoshi was worth more than 1 cent or more, so I actually only came to know about LN being off-chain and for micropayments a bit later.
I think, personally, a micro transaction for me is anything that would be worth around the min fee in coins I'd pay for an on-chain tx. This is around 141 satoshis for me now. Though I suppose paying 141 or 10% fee for a 1,400 sat spend is probably a better gauge of what should be micro.
Blockstream goods are all under $3. Maybe that's their idea of what's micro?
Can anyone point me to some good run downs of where micropayments will transform things?
Right now micro payment to me appears to be asking for payment for something that was previously free that I don't value anyway that I'd rather go without than pay for such as articles or vids. I suppose there is that much fabled coffee.
I would've thought machine to machine stuff is where lightning networks will end up shining.
Maybe this is relevant, maybe it isn't, but up until 2015, I worked for many years in countries whose economies have been described as broken or failing. Because of the absolute value of goods there, I worked with entire communities that lived on micropayments on day to day basis. Mobile phone credit top ups? Tea/sugar/milk for the week? Daily groceries. Painkillers. Soap and shampoo, detergent - these all come in small sachets less than $0.01 in absolute value. Just some of the goods I remember every camp, every shop, every rural stall stocked up in the Southern hemisphere. Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Sudan.
I saw how mobile-based micropayments systems did wonders for people. They couldn't carry cash much, or didn't earn much, but they paid with credits on their phone for these daily goods. You can read about how Mpesa changed a lot of lives in Kenya (I had the pleasure of using it myself) and Bitcoin startups like Bitpesa are following in the footsteps of microfinance. Edit: I forgot to add a link to read:
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/21/africa/mpesa-10th-anniversary/index.htmlMaybe I'm wrong, but I saw some of that mirrored in Lightning Network. Couple it with mesh networking or even satellite use in areas where there's no Internet... I don't know.