mediajunk

In my last entry, I argued that we were seeing the end of the internet era. My thinking was that the Cambrian explosion in internet technologies has ground to a halt. Websites have become standardised -- two column or three column layout, horizontal tabbed main menu, vertical local menu. HTML, like the QWERTY keyboard, is here to stay.

Today, cyberfriends, I want to tell you that it's not all doom and gloom. Yes, the internet revolution is over, but only in its technical domain. Now that the dust has settled, and the internet is just infrastructure, a new revolution beckons: an innovation explosion.

Reiner Evans of Trendwatching believes there has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur.

Trendwatching identifies patterns in market innovations and new consumer behaviour. While a fraction of this innovation comes from new web-based businesses, the internet is driving innovation in offline sectors.

The internet has unleashed a global infolust, where consumers invest their time (and, for many, enjoy) researching how to get the cheapest flights to Bratislava; the best hotel for their budget; the DVD player that can play their Divx movies; a pink version of that Abercrombie & Fitch hoodie; etc. As Trendwatching puts it:

Experienced consumers are lusting after detailed information on where to get the best of the best, the cheapest of the cheapest, the first of the first, the healthiest of the healthiest, the coolest of the coolest, or on how to become the smartest of the smartest. Instant information gratification is upon us.

So what's that got to do with innovation? As any Darwinist knows, when the environment changes quickly, organisms change quickly too. The consumer environment -- a.k.a. the market -- has changed, changed utterly. Products and services are rapidly mutating. But only the fittest will survive.

Tags: business, innovation, web 2.0