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Name: Michael Johnston
From: California
Bio: President of the Internet Business Forum; developed and conducted e-business seminars since 1998
Area of Expertise: Entrepreneur/Business Leader
Topic: Community/Culture
Headline: The Internet is Experiencing the Rebound Effect
Nutshell: The Internet was a "bleeding-edge" technology in the 1990s and will be financially successful "mainstream" technology in the 2000s.
Vision:The Internet, like many other technologies, was too radical when introduced to the mass markets in the 1990s. This bleeding-edge technology was too radical to be easily adopted by the mass consumer markets and was a financial disaster for most online e-businesses launched before 2001. Now the rebound effect is taking hold similar to what was experienced with PDAs.
PDA devices were first introduced in the 1980s by Apple (the Newton, NCR, GO and other firms. However, the technology was ahead of the market and these early PDAs were a financial failure. Since the year 2000, we have seen the financial and marketing success of PDA devices made by Palm, Handspring, and HP. The market and technology has changed dramatically and now PDA technology is a commercial success.
The timing is right for the Internet and e-business to achieve the commercial success that eluded it in the 1990s.
Date Submitted: January 10, 2005
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