|
If
Netscape was the standard bearer for Web 1.0 (circa 1995-2001), then Google is
the standard bearer for today's Web 2.0 !
Burst
2.0
Similarly,
if Web 1.0 was measured by the success of (often over-inflated!) IPOs of Internet
companies, measuring the value of today's Internet companies is not so easy -
simply because there are so few IPOs of Internet start-ups !
So what would
be a good yardstick to measure the health of the Web today? As per technology
expert Dave Winer, “Google stock crash will signal the downturn of Web 2.0. When
Google crashes,” Dave writes, “there'll be no more wave to ride". Leading
to the bubble burst 2.0 !
If we go along with Winer's logic, with Google
stock's current price/earnings ratio is as high as 61, it seems only a
matter of time before ...
| What
is Web 2.0 ?
Web 2.0 was a term coined in 2003 by Internet
maven Tim O'Reilly along with web pioneer Dale Dougherty.
Web 2.0 represents
the "new" metamorphosis of the Internet. Incidentally, the dot com boom period
(1995 - 2001) is referred to as Web 1.0.
Post the dot-com bust in 2001
(also called Bust 1.0 in anticipation of Bust 2.0 ?!), the World Wide Web has
taken on new dimensions.
These are briefly described as follows:
* "Open source" or innovation by assembling systems from distributed,
*
independent developers
* "Nimble" business models based
on content & service syndication
* "The Long Tail" demonstrating the reach
& power of the Internet platform
* The Web as a vast platform (rather
than a set of servers)
* Data or content as the driving force of the Web
* Network of individual participation
* "Perpetual beta software"
or continuous innovation via software releases
|
| IPTV
Gains Momentum with BT Vision
British telecom major BT has launched its
BT Vision IP TV service with a Windows-based IPTV software from Microsoft and
a Philips set top box with 160 GB HDD for a PVR. BT broadband customers can finally
receive television signals over broadband into their homes.
BT Vision is
designed around the BT Hub - which handles wireless LAN for household PCs & VoIP
calls, Internet surfing and of course, IPTV. BT Vision has already tied up with
major content producers.
But what's unusual for
a telecom operator is
that BT has eschewed the monthly subscription route - keeping the revenue model
for
BT Vision as
strictly "pay per view". Walled
Gardens & Mobile ISPs
Nokia
has just introduced its Peer-to-peer Traffic Control tools to help mobile
operators to black out data hungry applications. (The official description is
to help mobile operators to profitably manage their bandwidths.)
With Internet
over mobile networks, the stage should be set for mobile ISPs. Yet, much like
the "walled garden" model adopted for many years by AOL, the major mobile operators
are trying to selectively block Internet content downloaded through mobile networks.
In fact, U.S. mobile operators have already approached Google asking it to stop
their customers from applications like its mobile maps.
Mobile operators
are clearly rejecting the ISP-style model (a la fixed-line telecom operators.
What remains to be seen is how long they can stop subscribers from downloading
what they want from the Internet. And who will be the first mobile operator to
embrace "mobile ISP" !
|
