|
about Asia Buzz
Asia Buzz: It's Not Fair
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.
|
INTERACTIVE |
|
Ticked off at Asia Buzz? Turned on? Talk back to
TIME
|
|
AbsolutelyEveryone.com
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.)
| |
ASIA BUZZ |
Culture
on Demand: Perfect Score
Ryuichi Sakamato is music to my ears
- Saturday,
June 24, 2000
Walkabout:
Damage Control Comes to Paradise
Fiji -- beautiful one day, dangerous the next
- Thursday,
June 22
2000
Asia
Buzz: Comfort Zone
Singapore, take a good look in the mirror
- Thursday,
June 22,
2000
Subcontinental
Drift: Farooq's Folly
Or, how bad leaders can undermine good ideas
- Thursday,
June 22, 2000
Asia
Buzz: Money Talks
Indonesia's rotten New Order
- Wednesday,
June 21, 2000
Asia
Buzz: Rocket Science
Designing web pages in less than 10 seconds
- Tuesday,
June 20, 2000
Asia
Buzz: Stay Tuned!
It's half time in Asia. Don't touch that dial
- Monday,
June 19, 2000
Letter
from Japan: Asia's Berlin Wall
My beer with Kim Dae Jung
- Friday,
June 16, 2000
|
|
ASIAWEEK |
Intelligence
The story behind today's news from the editors of Asiaweek
|
|
TeenyweenyOffice.com
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
TIME Asia home
|
|
LATEST HEADLINES:
|
Click Here for the latest regional analysis from TIME Asia
|
|
