|
At last,
the contents of Aardvark's "million-dollar ideas" notebook
are revealed for all to see!
|
|
In a recent column I said that New Zealand was probably luck in the wake
of the dot-com collapse. Our failure to really get started in the new
economy meant that the sudden downturn had less impact than was the case
in the USA.
Well maybe it's time to take a look at how this country is performing in
the area of Internet-based businesses.
The reason I'm examining this today is because of the announcement that
one of the local dot-com wannabes,
e-Force,
has been placed in receivership and I have a funny feeling that this could be
the start of a trend.
Other former high-fliers which have encountered hard times of late include
Beauty Direct,
the online cosmetics site.
Of course
Flying Pig continues
to struggle on with promises of future profits -- but I still get a regular
stream of emails from disgruntled would-be customers who don't have nice
things to say about the service being offered.
It's very interesting to note that the few real online success stories we
have here in NZ tend to be operated by individuals or small businesses --
perhaps there's a valuable lesson to be learned from that?
So, how many other highly funded local Net-ventures are teetering on the
edge of collapse?
As I said earlier -- it's my guess that we're going to see a small wave of
collapses in the next six months. In effect we'll have our own dot-nz
crash and most of those who fold only have themselves to blame.
How Much???
Now you and I know that the Net market has taken a pretty good body-blow
over the past 12 months -- hell, the NASDAQ has fallen from over 5000 to under
2000 and that's something nobody can ignore -- or can they?
I see that the domain name "income.co.nz" is
up for auction on Trademe.co.nz.
No big deal right? Well maybe not -- but after reading the ad, I can't help
thinking that the seller is going to be awfully disappointed with the bids
(if any) he receives.
Dot-nz names really aren't worth that much -- especially as people are starting
to wise-up to the fact that the Net is a borderless environment and the whole
namespace is about to be dramatically increased by the arrival of new non-country-specific
top level domains.
"Dot en zee? Hell, is that Noo Zealand? Can you catch foot and mouth disease
from a URL?"
However, I thought I'd join in and see if anyone wants to pay an exorbitant
amount of cash for some of the
domains that I have lying around.
My deposit-slip awaits...
As always, your feedback is welcomed.
|
Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it
now!
|
|
There are 2 Vacancies In The Job Centre
= open in new window