Rants And Ramblings About Mobile Technology
Anders Borg writing about the fun and crazy world of mobile and Internet service technologies.
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Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Web 2.0 on overdrive
Web 2.0 is about user-generated content and information mash-up (via widgets). That means there's very little for the service provider to do except get the service up and somehow get users interested in posting on the site and/or use the mash-up widgets. For this to succeed being first is required, as those that come a bit late with the same idea are lost, unless they provide an edge that others don't provide. The benefit for the service provider is of course that the cost over time is very small. Media is very interested in writing about such services, so there's no advertizing cost for the services that are first. The drawback is that the later "me-too's" get no media coverage at all.
Here are a few examples of recent services that are already hugely popular. The lead time from inception to mass popularity is very short for the most popular services. We are talking months, not years, so if you are even a month late with your service you might lose the game.
As most such services don't use advertizing there's a question how they will get any revenue over time. In the beginning I'm sure investors are very interested in this, as Web 2.0 is the hottest topic around, but they might get a bit cranky later if hard cash doesn't show up.
WidgetBox provides lots of free Widgets for inclusion on web sites. Widgets are provided by users.
Google will do the same according to this announcement.
Ning provides ready-to-go social network services. Will a Ning-based service become as popular as YouTube etc? Of course not, as tons of other sites will use the Ning (or similar) service.
Digg aggregates news tips from users, hence is not really a news service in itself. Users can vote for the best news. Interestingly you can use WidgetBox to aggregate Digg and other news.
All in all, the most important thing that counts for Web 2.0 services is speed, and adaptation over time. As the content itself is the users' responsibility, the company behind the service can spend all time and money on the service "engine", which is inexpensive compared to having a staff of news editors etc.
I sense we are heading for a new "IT bubble", unless investors can push such services to provide means for getting revenue.
The alternative is to become acquired by a more traditional company that needs to spice up its offerings (see e.g. News Corp and Jamba/Jamster), which has the benefits of not requiring any profit before or after the acquisition, yet lots of money for the founders.
The mobile spin on this is of course that this will also be available via mobile-adapted sites. Meanwhile you can check news via wap.abiro.com / Mobile News.
I actually had planned to launch my own widget aggregation site (also with my own widgets, and for mobiles too) before I heard about WidgetBox etc, but that doesn't sound like the best thing to do right now.
Here are a few examples of recent services that are already hugely popular. The lead time from inception to mass popularity is very short for the most popular services. We are talking months, not years, so if you are even a month late with your service you might lose the game.
As most such services don't use advertizing there's a question how they will get any revenue over time. In the beginning I'm sure investors are very interested in this, as Web 2.0 is the hottest topic around, but they might get a bit cranky later if hard cash doesn't show up.
WidgetBox provides lots of free Widgets for inclusion on web sites. Widgets are provided by users.
Google will do the same according to this announcement.
Ning provides ready-to-go social network services. Will a Ning-based service become as popular as YouTube etc? Of course not, as tons of other sites will use the Ning (or similar) service.
Digg aggregates news tips from users, hence is not really a news service in itself. Users can vote for the best news. Interestingly you can use WidgetBox to aggregate Digg and other news.
All in all, the most important thing that counts for Web 2.0 services is speed, and adaptation over time. As the content itself is the users' responsibility, the company behind the service can spend all time and money on the service "engine", which is inexpensive compared to having a staff of news editors etc.
I sense we are heading for a new "IT bubble", unless investors can push such services to provide means for getting revenue.
The alternative is to become acquired by a more traditional company that needs to spice up its offerings (see e.g. News Corp and Jamba/Jamster), which has the benefits of not requiring any profit before or after the acquisition, yet lots of money for the founders.
The mobile spin on this is of course that this will also be available via mobile-adapted sites. Meanwhile you can check news via wap.abiro.com / Mobile News.
I actually had planned to launch my own widget aggregation site (also with my own widgets, and for mobiles too) before I heard about WidgetBox etc, but that doesn't sound like the best thing to do right now.
