Web 3.0 & Google (Part 1)

Introduction Google is the world’s largest search engine and online advertising network. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. It is the largest American company (by market capitalization over $217 billion) that is not part of the Dow

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eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 8)

SM: How does the entrepreneur network in Latin America work? Are there many entrepreneurs in Latin America now? MG: Yes, there is a foundation called Endeavor Foundation. They select entrepreneurs in their region and then supports them. This foundation was founded by Linda Rosenburg and Peter Kelner, two Harvard graduates. They got the big private

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Web 3.0 & Amazon (Part 5)

Conclusion We have reviewed Amazon’s strategy in the upcoming Web 3.0 world over the last few days. Amazon has been focusing on enhancing its technology, introducing new categories of products and services (recently introduced, Amazon MP3 and Grocery), increasing depth of selection in each category, opening new markets (UK, Germany, Japan), offering better shopping tools

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eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 7)

SM: Does PayPal operate in South America? MG: You can withdraw money but you cannot fund a PayPal account. They do not have a Spanish speaking site either. SM: What is your dynamic with eBay today? Competitive or collaborative?

Web 3.0 & Amazon (Part 4)

Acquisition Targets Amazon has been slow to acquire companies. Amazon acquired dpreview.com, a London-based digital photography review site in May 2007. Amazon needs to use acquisitions to enter businesses that have a higher profitability dynamic in their business models. For example, Amazon could consider acquiring on-demand, customized product creation company CafePress. CafePress.com is a growing

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Word of Mouth: Marketeers’ Delight and Nightmare

One of my absolute favorite sites on the web is TripAdvisor, which we reviewed a while ago. Let me use a screenshot from the TripAdvisor home page to demonstrate what Word-of-Mouth can do to a business:

Online Travel and Orbitz, Expedia, Priceline

I wondered earlier if Priceline (PCLN) would reach its all-time dot.com high of $104/share ever again. The company not only reached the target but exceeded it, and is currently trading at $120/share. Priceline recently posted earnings for Q3 totaling $104.4 million versus $48.8 million in the same period a year ago. Excluding one-time items, Q3

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Casual Games – Everyone Can Play

By Gabe Zichermann, Guest Author By now, many of you have undoubtedly heard of casual games as part of a revolutionary change in the way people play. Casual games have evolved from their humble origins as “interstitial entertainment” to take their place alongside the biggest segments of the industry as a $2Bn+ category in its

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