So after reading that Google finally opened up Google Checkout, I got to thinking how long it would take Yahoo to offer a similar payment service. (Emphasis on payment…Yahoo Stores doesn’t count, because you are required to host the store, shopping cart and all, on Yahoo’s site. Bleh.)
It wouldn’t be the first time Yahoo mimicked the market leader in search. There’s nothing wrong with that from a business perspective though. Reminds me a lot of how McDonald’s and Burger King decide on where to build new restaurants. McDonald’s spends a TON of money on market research, studying all the facets of proposed areas like population and income to determine financial projections. It’s a very deliberate, diligent process. How does Burger King do it? They look to where McDonald’s opens up its stores, then build one nearby.
If you’re going to copy someone, make sure you pick someone who’s doing it right.
June 29th, 2006
I love this “Question of the Day” from the Wall Street Journal’s website:
What’s an appropriate age for someone to have a page on MySpace?
The options are:
- Any age is fine
- At least 12 years old
- At least 14 years old
- At least 16 years old
- At least 18 years old
I guess 30 is not a good idea?
June 23rd, 2006
For a long time, I thought it was curious that the vast majority of my Google searches on obscure business terminology have pointed me to the ad-supported Investopedia. I would have assumed that the highest-quality results would come from a community-built site like Wikipedia.
Of course, there’s a good reason behind the phenomenon — taken side-by-side, the lesser-known business terms in Investopedia articles are usually more accurate and more in-depth than the corresponding Wikipedia entry (and therefore more link-worthy, which Google likes). A perfect example is Investopedia’s term of the day: COLI. Try that on Wikipedia and you’ll get a ton of E Coli articles.
Still, it almost seems backwards — anachronistic in a sense. The Wikipdia community has already handed Britannica its lunch…surely the typical community author can find time to refine a few esoteric business references now and then.
Turns out, the typical Wikipedia user might have other interests to cover. I’m a big fan of Woot.com and the Something Awful Forums, but you really have to stand in amazement of the size and effort put forth in their respective Wikipedia articles. While the entertainment value can’t be discounted, you have to wonder how the community benefits by knowing the complete history of the “Bag o’ Crap.”
Will Wikipedia ever surpass sites like Investopedia? I’m not so sure. In the end, specialization = quality. Wikipedia focuses on general information for everything, while Investopedia can choose to focus on a small number of business terms. It’s the same reason why a CPA will be doing my taxes this year — some things are better left to an expert.
June 5th, 2006
