Comments on: The New Economics of Widgets http://www.annezelenka.com/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets a blog about the connected age Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:09:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Brands Create Customers » Blog Archive » Brands raise the bar on widget performance http://www.annezelenka.com/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-857 Brands Create Customers » Blog Archive » Brands raise the bar on widget performance Fri, 05 Jan 2007 16:50:16 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-857 [...] Anne Zelenka has some insightful comments on the current widget state of the art, economics involved, and where widgets need to improve. She writes from a technical perspective, but everything she says applies to brand-building widgets as well. One of her points is that widgets must enable users to do something personal and special if they hope to deliver unique value. Yes, indeed. [...] […] Anne Zelenka has some insightful comments on the current widget state of the art, economics involved, and where widgets need to improve. She writes from a technical perspective, but everything she says applies to brand-building widgets as well. One of her points is that widgets must enable users to do something personal and special if they hope to deliver unique value. Yes, indeed. […]

]]> By: Anne http://www.annezelenka.com/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-851 Anne Thu, 04 Jan 2007 18:50:48 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-851 Dad, I lured you into commenting! Score! Perhaps everyone should pay for their everyday health care and we should have catastrophic coverage as well. Why shouldn't people make their own decisions about whether to go in to the doctor when they have the sniffles? Why shouldn't people learn to choose nurse practitioners over doctors based on cost for things like well-baby checkups or things that are amenable to rule-based diagnosis and treatment? Good point about how the moral hazard of using too much can be balanced by how unpleasant it is to get medical care... except that medical care doesn't have to be quite so unpleasant. And maybe if there were a more direct link between consumers and providers, it could become more pleasant, at least for the basic health care I'm talking about having consumers pay for. You probably can't make kidney dialysis or chemotherapy all that pleasant. Thanks for the comment, Dad. Dad, I lured you into commenting! Score!

Perhaps everyone should pay for their everyday health care and we should have catastrophic coverage as well. Why shouldn’t people make their own decisions about whether to go in to the doctor when they have the sniffles? Why shouldn’t people learn to choose nurse practitioners over doctors based on cost for things like well-baby checkups or things that are amenable to rule-based diagnosis and treatment?

Good point about how the moral hazard of using too much can be balanced by how unpleasant it is to get medical care… except that medical care doesn’t have to be quite so unpleasant. And maybe if there were a more direct link between consumers and providers, it could become more pleasant, at least for the basic health care I’m talking about having consumers pay for. You probably can’t make kidney dialysis or chemotherapy all that pleasant.

Thanks for the comment, Dad.

]]> By: Leigh Truitt http://www.annezelenka.com/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-856 Leigh Truitt Thu, 04 Jan 2007 15:22:53 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-856 I agree with the analogy of third party paid health care. But how else can it be paid? Any situation in which a few will need a lot of care and most will need very little is calling for an insurance model -- but social insurance, i.e., community rated, rather than experience rated. The moral hazard of using too much is usually balanced by the unpleasantness of medical care. I agree with the analogy of third party paid health care. But how else can it be paid? Any situation in which a few will need a lot of care and most will need very little is calling for an insurance model — but social insurance, i.e., community rated, rather than experience rated. The moral hazard of using too much is usually balanced by the unpleasantness of medical care.

]]> By: rich http://www.annezelenka.com/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-855 rich Thu, 04 Jan 2007 13:21:05 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-855 It seems like some widget creators are using them as 'portals' to draw users to their main site. Its almost as if they regard widgets as 'Banner Ads 2.0' -- they give you a small bit of info, entice you to click to get more, then, boom, you are on their site fueling their page count rewards of choice. I agree that there really is no interoperability model for widgets -- even within a given framework like netvibes or google. You would have thought that that lesson would have been learned from the Java Portlet shortcomings. It seems like some widget creators are using them as ‘portals’ to draw users to their main site. Its almost as if they regard widgets as ‘Banner Ads 2.0′ — they give you a small bit of info, entice you to click to get more, then, boom, you are on their site fueling their page count rewards of choice.

I agree that there really is no interoperability model for widgets — even within a given framework like netvibes or google. You would have thought that that lesson would have been learned from the Java Portlet shortcomings.

]]> By: Tim http://www.annezelenka.com/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-854 Tim Thu, 04 Jan 2007 02:23:16 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-854 Scott, I realize this may just restate your point, but has anyone considered that the ad-support for content/widgets/what-have-you actually <i>are</i> micropayments? CPC models are all about micropayment. OK, I know you mean <i>consumer-funded</i> micropayments as opposed to advertiser-funded, but you get the point. It is an attention economy in many ways and giving up a share of your screen real estate is the price we pay for these tools. Now, if some enterprising widget provider follows an Opera or Eudora-like model (advertising-supported and paid versions), so be it. However, I think most companies will have an advertising stream as part of their business model, if for no other reason than its revenue potential is well understood by angel investors and VC's. Scott,
I realize this may just restate your point, but has anyone considered that the ad-support for content/widgets/what-have-you actually are micropayments? CPC models are all about micropayment. OK, I know you mean consumer-funded micropayments as opposed to advertiser-funded, but you get the point. It is an attention economy in many ways and giving up a share of your screen real estate is the price we pay for these tools. Now, if some enterprising widget provider follows an Opera or Eudora-like model (advertising-supported and paid versions), so be it. However, I think most companies will have an advertising stream as part of their business model, if for no other reason than its revenue potential is well understood by angel investors and VC’s.

]]> By: Scott Mark http://www.annezelenka.com/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-853 Scott Mark Wed, 03 Jan 2007 21:55:18 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-853 Sorry, I'm too cynical - I think the widget world is bound and determined to be ad supported. I'm surprised that hasn't polluted more start page widgets yet, I think it will. I hate to think you are right about that being a reason for less API/data services and more widget services, but I think you are. Maybe there will be more models where the free versions are ad-supported and the pay versions are not... but that gets even more Weird in an aggregated widget world - micropayments anyone??!! Sorry, I’m too cynical - I think the widget world is bound and determined to be ad supported. I’m surprised that hasn’t polluted more start page widgets yet, I think it will.

I hate to think you are right about that being a reason for less API/data services and more widget services, but I think you are.

Maybe there will be more models where the free versions are ad-supported and the pay versions are not… but that gets even more Weird in an aggregated widget world - micropayments anyone??!!

]]> By: tech decentral » Ajax Start Pages Suck http://www.annezelenka.com/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-852 tech decentral » Ajax Start Pages Suck Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:18:25 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2007/01/the-new-economics-of-widgets#comment-852 [...] Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. « links for2007-01-02 [...] […] Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. « links for2007-01-02 […]

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