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Culture on Demand: Black is Beautiful The American Express black card is the ultimate status symbol Asia Buzz: Should the Net Be Free? Web heads want it all -- for nothing JAPAN: Failed Revolution Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori clings to power as dissidents in his party finally decide not to back a no-confidence motion Cover: Endgame? After Florida's controversial ballot recount, Bush holds a 537-vote lead in the state, which could give him the election |
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Please let one more guy get rich quick By ADI IGNATIUS June 26, 2000 Web posted at 2:30 a.m. Hong Kong time, 2:30 p.m. EDT The 20% drop in Amazon.com's share price Friday is worrisome. I'm not a shareholder (which means, I guess, that I'm suddenly 20% richer), but I fear that investors' new "rational" view of the market could scuttle some ideas I've got for Internet start-up companies. Here are a few that, until last week anyway, seemed like sure things.
This site would list every single person alive. Imagine the fun as you scroll through the roster of 5 billion names to find your own! Revenue model: Licensing this exclusive list to advertisers, spam purveyors and junk-mail specialists. E-commerce: Sales of annual, 3,457,000,000-page Who's Who. Risks: The 4.2 billion people without computers, who might feel deprived. (Remember Seattle.)
The problem with e-commerce is volume. Sure, you can easily buy online an entire year's supply of stationery or other office necessities. But what if you just need, say, a pencil? This site would provide just-in-time delivery of whatever you need at the quantity you desire. A sticky pad (or just a single sheet), 30 staples (to fill the gun), a nice cup of hot tea. Revenue model: High profit margins. A pencil might cost $50.00. A sticky pad maybe $75.00. E-commerce: B2C, B2B, R2D2, UB40, MI5. Risks: As technology allows more and more people to work at home, we expect growing competition from mothers, who, in some cases, would provide cups of tea for free. ReverseCam.com Existing 24-hour remote cams are all the same. Whether it's Jenny sleeping, Julie undressing or Alonzo getting down, viewers perpetually have a sense of déja vu. So why not turn the tables? Instead of watching, for example, Julie take off her clothes, this site would mount the camera on Julie herself. You'd see what this lovely cybergal sees! Instead of a naked woman (z-z-z-z-z), you'd get a voyeur's eye view of the walls and furniture around her bedroom. Exciting, ever-changing and, va-va-vooom, it's 24/7! Revenue model: A premium site like this would surely be able to charge subscribers a hefty fee. E-commerce: The reverse-cam technology could be licensed extensively. Banks, for example, could mount the cameras not above doors or teller windows but on potential bank robbers themselves. Risks: It's a really lame idea. LockEmUpNow.com This is the site that lets users decide who goes to jail! Every day, we explore a topic, like: Should Li Peng pay for the Tiananmen Massacre? Then we let the online audience vote. If they want blood, poor Mr. Li heads off to the gulag. To help enforce the binding verdicts, Interpol would be a significant shareholder. Other potential lockaways could include O.J. Simpson, Vladimir Putin and Kenny G. Revenue model: Banner ads, lobbyist fees. E-commerce: Clothing and other memorabilia related to some of the high-profile cases. [My dad sent Britney Spears to jail and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.] Risks: Overcrowding in our prisons. Ticked off at Asia Buzz? Turned on? Talk back to TIME Write to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com Search for recent Asia Buzz
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