IP: Re: For wireless ISPs, small is beautiful

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
>
> [Note:  This comment comes from a reader of Farber's IP list, who 
> saw a post I made earlier this week.  I encourage reader to check 
> out the two papers that he cites.  DLH]
>
> At 3:10 -0800 12/15/01, Andrew Odlyzko wrote:
> > From: Andrew Odlyzko <odlyzko@dtc.umn.edu>
> > To: dewayne@warpspeed.com
> > Subject: Re: IP: For wireless ISPs, small is beautiful
> > Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 03:10:35 -0800
> > MIME-Version: 1.0
> >
> > Dewayne,
> >
> > Apropos your most recent posting to Dave Farber's IP list (and also
> > other ones), an important factor that helps explain why giant new
> > ventures like Metricom and Webvan failed is that Internet time
> > is a myth.  New technologies are generally being developed faster
> > than before, but they generally do not spread through society any
> > faster.  That is a key reason that most dot-com business plans
> > were doomed to failure.  I have a brief note about this, entitled
> > "The myth of Internet time," which appeared in the April 2001 issue
> > of "Technology Review."  It is based on an earlier and more detailed
> > paper on this subject, entitled "The slow evolution of electronic
> > publishing," which appeared in 1997.  Both are available at
> >
> >    <http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/eworld.html>.
> >
> > Being small allows for adjusting to the speed with which new
> > products and services can diffuse, as opposed to having to depend
> > on every conceivable consumer jumping on your bandwagon the moment
> > you open for business.  Even home delivery of groceries is being
> > done profitably by a few companies in a few places, and is growing.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Andrew

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