Sector, sector, sector . . . that seems to be what the simplistically minded media wants to talk about. Of course, they have to digest the raucous events in the "Internet Sector" and distill them down to a 30 second to two minute capsule that the commonest denominator can understand.
As much as most Amazonianut bulls would like everyone to believe, Amazon.com is not an Internet portal company analogous to Yahoo! Although it is impossible to predict five or ten years into the wired future with a high degree of accuracy, it is quite possible to conceive that Yahoo! has a chance to become the portal company that creates pseudo standard locks for entry, discovery and initiation of commerce on the internet. They could become the Microsoft of the Internet despite the obvious differences in openness of the technologies (inet v. desktop standards).
But what about Amazon.com? Amazon has attracted a cult-like following which, cued into inet broker phenomena, has helped to cause a shark feeding frenzy that has driven the price out of all proportion to reality. Amazon has done some great things in pioneering co-op sponsored advertising promotion via the associates site program. This is worth some credit for originality. But where is there a proprietary lock on technology, markets, brand recognition, product sourcing, information creation and organization, or any other capability that has any chance of being established as a standard that Amazon can control? How many Amazon bulls have the site URL set as their opening screen? How many times a day do people visit to do research, contact friends, buy things, or anything else? When in the future do the bulls plan to make Amazon THE vital part of their everyday web experience? If it aint gonna happen for Amazon bulls, it aint gonna happen for the average internet user.
So, hype that the "Internet Sector" is doing so and so because Yahoo! reported good or bad results (like slowing momentum) and that Amazon should follow just doesn't make any sense to this internet idiot. |
