Why this sudden recognition that we love choices and the related media and blogsphere coverage of the "long tail"? Spencer Tracy used the words "Vive la difference" in Adam's Rib in 1949 and we have not looked back since. We love variety in music, books, cereals, brands. I have written about how the software industry, in spite of all the consolidation talk, supports over 2,000 players worldwide.
Is the tech community just patting itself for discovering what already existed elsewhere? Radio Shack (one of my first audit clients at PwC a few careers ago) has successfully run a business for decades carrying all kinds of exotic batteries, electronics, kits and who knows what. Good concierges at hotels define the word "long tail" when it comes to satisfying unusual requests. Lowe's allows you to order almost half a million items through its special catalog. Lego has been doing it for years - helping kids grow in to adults who shop at the "long tail" music and other websites of today. Did not Joe Pine write about Mass Customization and the "Market of One" over a decade ago?
So technology is allowing us to be even more eclectic in our tastes, but
to me it is also catching up and facilitating the choices we have long wanted and had in the
physical world.
High-Tail the Long-Tail
Why this sudden recognition that we love choices and the related media and blogsphere coverage of the "long tail"? Spencer Tracy used the words "Vive la difference" in Adam's Rib in 1949 and we have not looked back since. We love variety in music, books, cereals, brands. I have written about how the software industry, in spite of all the consolidation talk, supports over 2,000 players worldwide.
Is the tech community just patting itself for discovering what already existed elsewhere? Radio Shack (one of my first audit clients at PwC a few careers ago) has successfully run a business for decades carrying all kinds of exotic batteries, electronics, kits and who knows what. Good concierges at hotels define the word "long tail" when it comes to satisfying unusual requests. Lowe's allows you to order almost half a million items through its special catalog. Lego has been doing it for years - helping kids grow in to adults who shop at the "long tail" music and other websites of today. Did not Joe Pine write about Mass Customization and the "Market of One" over a decade ago?
So technology is allowing us to be even more eclectic in our tastes, but to me it is also catching up and facilitating the choices we have long wanted and had in the physical world.
October 08, 2005 in "New Web" and enterprise computing, Industry Commentary | Permalink