Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news
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All entries are written by Anders Borg, CEO and Consultant of Abiro, that has a long experience in strategic planning, developing embedded and Java software, usability aspects, and the mobile phone industry in general. You can also read the latest Mobile News entries on your phone via wap.abiro.com, and we provide many News Feeds from popular news services. For advertising and contribution queries, please use the feedback form. News feed (local) FeedBurner Feed
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Monday, May 14, 2007
The business model of Web 2.0
As I said in a previous post, it's advertizing and being acquired. Many Web 2.0 sites don't even advertize, and Web 2.0: Now and Next also indicates the acquisition game is what matters the most.
I'm not bashing the services per se (the list of service categories shows there's a lot of useful stuff here, with potential). I'm more concerned about people that think they understand a new concept by giving it a simple name (like 'The New Economy'; still nobody has figured out what was so new about it), and therefor investing in services that wouldn't have survived without that injection.
One thing is clear: The first ones in a new interesting category gets a hell of a lot of users, but the me-toos are soon forgotten, unless they can carve out a niche, with users that want to pay for the service.
'The sellers of these startups and their venture backers are the ones making money off of Web 2.0.'
There's some light in the tunnel though:
'Many companies are using Web 2.0. A recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that 85% of C-level executives see the sharing and collaboration aspects of Web 2.0 as an opportunity to increase revenue and/or margins.'
'Given its business risks and the low cost of entry, it appears unlikely that companies will invest significantly in Web 2.0 technologies as they did during the first Internet wave in the 1990s. Thus Web 2.0’s future depends on its ability to reinvent the media industry.'
The low cost of entry is an interesting one. That means many small ventures are flocking to provide such services, and by necessity many of those services are very similar to the others. Also, it means there might not be need for a business model either, as it's hyped and investment money lasts long enough to get the service going, without any (other) revenue stream.
I believe the best approach to the whole thing is to use Web 2.0, Mobile 2.0 (and the combination) in the marketing, but realize and follow through that the whole point of setting up a business is to do business.
I'm not bashing the services per se (the list of service categories shows there's a lot of useful stuff here, with potential). I'm more concerned about people that think they understand a new concept by giving it a simple name (like 'The New Economy'; still nobody has figured out what was so new about it), and therefor investing in services that wouldn't have survived without that injection.
One thing is clear: The first ones in a new interesting category gets a hell of a lot of users, but the me-toos are soon forgotten, unless they can carve out a niche, with users that want to pay for the service.
'The sellers of these startups and their venture backers are the ones making money off of Web 2.0.'
There's some light in the tunnel though:
'Many companies are using Web 2.0. A recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that 85% of C-level executives see the sharing and collaboration aspects of Web 2.0 as an opportunity to increase revenue and/or margins.'
'Given its business risks and the low cost of entry, it appears unlikely that companies will invest significantly in Web 2.0 technologies as they did during the first Internet wave in the 1990s. Thus Web 2.0’s future depends on its ability to reinvent the media industry.'
The low cost of entry is an interesting one. That means many small ventures are flocking to provide such services, and by necessity many of those services are very similar to the others. Also, it means there might not be need for a business model either, as it's hyped and investment money lasts long enough to get the service going, without any (other) revenue stream.
I believe the best approach to the whole thing is to use Web 2.0, Mobile 2.0 (and the combination) in the marketing, but realize and follow through that the whole point of setting up a business is to do business.
