One company is a conglomerate. It is a big player in movies, television, magazines, books, cable, music and broadway productions. It is also the largest ISP in the U.S. with portal services, an educational portal, instant messaging, the whole package.

The other company doesn't sell a thing. It costs nothing to subscribe. If you don't do business with them you'll never receive a bill. Go ahead and browse for as long as you want.

The first company has a market cap of $46 Billion.

The market cap for the second is $25 Billion.

Take away the publishing and media services from the first and their web business is worth maybe a fraction of the second's.

The first wants to be your provider. You should do everything with them. They offer a whole menu of services.

The second wants you to participate, but isn't desperate for your business.

Who are they?

The first is AOL TimeWarner. A Mega-Corporation.

The second? ebay.

So who is more successful? Who will be around in a year or two?

It's things like this that make it tough to be in the Technology business. There is nothing intuitive about the comparison. AOL, as a service provider, should be the big player. They provide so many services. And yet, the real winner here seems to be ebay.

Or are the real winners the ebay users. Those of us who choose to use a system that is only limited by the constraints of imagination (and a few federal and state regulations). It's something to think about.

Apparently, ebay gets it - Technologywise.........
9:27:35 PM    comment []