Brand will continue to be an asset, and quality of content will continue to be important, but distribution will be available to anyone in equal degree on the Internet.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Red Herring magazine, Alex S. Vieux interviews Microsoft CEO Bill Gates in Madrid, Spain, at the European Technology Roundtable Exposition. Gates says: ”The subscription, advertising, and transaction revenue coming out of the Internet today is very, very small. Most of this content is free so far. People and companies publish information on the Net for the fun of it, or to get experience or exposure. And I think it will take some time before those business models are established. Ultimately, consumers will decide. But there is a broad understanding that investing now is what makes sense. The wonderful thing about this technology is that it breaks down distribution barriers. Brand will continue to be an asset, and quality of content will continue to be important, but distribution will be available to anyone in equal degree on the Internet.”
Biography:Bill Gates, the most influential technology entrepreneur of the late 20th century, was the primary author of the prediction-packed 1995 book “The Road Ahead” and is the founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: October 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Open Access
Name of publication: Red Herring
Title, headline, chapter name: The Once and Future Kings
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue2.5/once.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney