These Are the Best of Times!
Having experienced the dot-com boom (circa 1998 to 2001) as a technology journalist and startup entrepreneur, it was a really exciting time: lots of new and exciting companies and concepts, spectacular IPOs, great parties (amazing food, open bars) and sweet, bountiful swag.
But there’s no comparison between then and what’s happening now on the Web. Put aside niggling concerns about the bubble bursting, these are the good times; significantly better times than the dot-com boom.
For one, we’re living in the midst of an innovation revolution. With development, distribution and marketing costs shrinking while online advertising is growing, the number of cool, interesting and useful online services is impressive and, often, overwhelming. In a post yesterday, ReadWriteWeb’s Sarah Perez talked about the challenge of having too many choices, while many other people complain about not having enough time.
If you’re into the Web and using the Web, you’ve never had it so good because there’s a tool out there to meet pretty much any need. And if you can’t find that tool, you can quickly build it yourself if you have the technical chops, or get someone to build it for you without breaking the piggy bank.
Personally, the revelation of never having it (the Web) so good hit me last week while looking at two computer screens; one featuring multiple Twitter windows and an IM client, while the other had Firefox chock-a-block with 20 tabs opens, iTunes going, a YouTube video waiting to watched, and an in-box with a bunch of beta invites and last-minute details for the upcoming mesh conference. As someone I work with often says “Good Times!”
Another area where innovation is thriving is wireless where faster networks and cooler devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry Bold are changing how we live, work and play. As much as mobile advertising has been slow to gain traction, mobile devices are becoming more useful and valuable to where the point where it won’t be long before some people give up having a laptop; much like people have been abandoning desktops for laptops in recent years.
And while the IPO market is, for the most part, dead in the water, there’s still plenty of financial sizzle around with venture capital flowing into startups, and startups being snapped up by corporate Goliaths scrambling to position themselves strategically.
Case in point is Comcast’s $200-million purchase of Plaxo, a curious move until you realize Comcast is just being smart and pragmatic by creating an online business to complement its lucrative cable franchise. (More: CBS is buying CNet for $1.8-billion, a move that appears to be a win-win scenario.)
Then, you’ve got the people part of the Web. There’s palpable excitement about what’s happening. People want to be involved, they want to talk about what’s going on, and they want to get together to share their enthusiasm - be it at conferences such as mesh, DemoCamp, casual geek lunches or meeting for coffee.
Who knows, maybe the bubble will burst but, for now, enjoy the moment because we’ve never had it so good.
Technorati Tags: Web 2.0
May 15th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Great points Mark.
I noticed an article on Adage.com stating that P&G also just announced that they’re shifting 10% of their $3.5 billion budget online.
Even if only 10% of that money goes to companies other than the big 3 search engines that’s still a lot more money in the pot to fund what everyone is doing!
May 15th, 2008 at 10:57 am
A couple of colleagues and I were chatting about the difference in pace, frequency, and scale of innovation these days as compared to pre-web.
I agree that there is a lot of innovation and development happening in the online space, but that innovation doesn’t always seem to play a primary role in driving the economy the way pre-web innovation did.
Innovation seems to often happen more quickly, in smaller increments, and in more closed social circles nowadays.
On an unrelated note, thank you for renaming the new Blackberry to something with more legs. I blogged a little rant on that earlier this week. I’ll buy a “Bolt” over a “Bold” any day of the week!
May 15th, 2008 at 11:05 am
You’re right, Bolt sounds more exciting!
Thanks for the catch!
Mark
May 15th, 2008 at 11:10 am
[...] as we are, that’s a good thing. It’s exciting times. In fact, Mark Evans says that These Are the Best of Times, noting that “we’re living in the midst of an innovation [...]
May 16th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Ya know, Mark, I’d really love to join you. Unfortunately I can’t seem to figure out how to stop Firefox from crashing incessantly.