What is Digg?17 Comments
- mokodo, on 04/11/2008, -0/+221997: Netflix
At first, Netflix solved a simple job: People were sick of going to a video rental stores and not finding the movies they wanted. They also hated paying late fees. Then, Netflix developed an innovative recommendation system. With no retail presence and over $1 billion in sales, Netflix has had a real impact. Since its IPO in 2002, its stock has increased by more than 165%, while Blockbuster's has fallen 78%.
1998: Google
Sergey Brin and Larry Page set out "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Then Google began selling ads and developed a bidding system based on the search words. "Pay-per-view" and "pay-per-click" gave marketers instant feedback and pulled ad dollars from traditional players. Google went public in 2004, raising $1.67 billion. Today, the company's market cap exceeds $150 billion.
1999: BlackBerry
Research in Motion's BlackBerry brought consumption of e-mail services to entirely new, on-the-go contexts. By leveraging excess data network capacity and focusing on heavy users of corporate e-mail, BlackBerry identified an important foothold market. In classic disruptive fashion, a seemingly rudimentary technology nailed a job to be done and created a blockbuster growth business. There currently are more than 8 million users of BlackBerry's service.
2000: MinuteClinic
From the start, MinuteClinic's low-cost health care clinics were highly disruptive. It placed its kiosks in drugstores and made the simple diagnosis of a number of common conditions lower-cost and more convenient. Quick diagnosis, prescriptions and no appointments. By reducing the cost of treating the most common maladies, insurers were quick to embrace MinuteClinic's offering. CVS Caremark acquired the company in 2006 for a reported $170 million.
2001: Apple's iPod
By 2000, the music industry was facing declines in sales of compact discs as many were embracing new--and illegal--file-sharing Web sites. Then, Apple introduced its sleek, easy-to-use iPod along with iTunes software. Soon iPod came to dominate the digital music device market. Apple signed agreements with record labels and added a store to iTunes that allowed consumers to buy and legally download for only 99 cents per track.
2002: IRobot's Roomba
IRobot got its start developing complex, one-off robots that, while technically stunning, were not profitable. The company made the strategic decision to move into the mass market by producing a robotic vacuum, dubbed Roomba. The product allows busy people to virtually eliminate the unpleasant task of vacuuming. IRobot has sold more than 2 million Roombas. In 2006, revenues surged more than 30% to close to $200 million.
2003: Skype
When voice over Internet Protocol began to emerge, Vonage got most of hype. In true disruptive fashion, Skype Technologies made far less of a splash but allowed people all over the world to use their computers to place free online "calls" to others with the software. EBay bought the company in 2005 for a whopping $2.6 billion. Skype now has more than 200 million users.
2004: Philips' HeartStart
Phillips Electronics introduced the HeartStart, an over-the-counter home defibrillator that sells for about $1,500. HeartStart's disruptive potential goes beyond simply reducing the cost of traditional defibrillators. It comes equipped with a training video and voice instructions to guide people without any medical training. What formerly was a difficult to access yet vital technology is now available to people who don't have nearby professional medical care.
2005: YouTube
YouTube's delivery platform is highly disruptive to cable networks and satellite providers, which lacked the ability to distribute and promote such massive amounts of content. Television companies also were unable to offer viewers anything approximating the flexibility of YouTube, which promised users the ability to watch any piece of content at any time and from any place over the Web. Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.
2006: Nintendo's Wii
In videogaming, Nintendo was losing its dominance to Sony and Microsoft, which were investing heavily in more powerful consoles and better graphics. As their systems sky-rocketed in price, Nintendo introduced its relatively inexpensive, but profitable, Wii and made it far easier for people of all ages to play videogames. Its motion-detecting technology translates physical actions--like swinging a golf club--into virtual actions. - brufleth, on 04/11/2008, -2/+21You know what would be super? If people would stop posting these stupid Forbes slide shows. They are not worth looking at and the tiny blurb per page format is annoying.
- smacksaw, on 04/11/2008, -1/+13I'm glad mokodo summed it up, but seriously...***** Forbes.com
Could you imagine if Steve Forbes would have been our President? He'd give his State of the Union in 30-second blurbs punctuated by the top finalists of American Idol singing their song for the week.
All Forbes.com should be BURIED AS SPAM ON SIGHT! - groberts1980, on 04/11/2008, -0/+4Thanks. I've stopped going to Forbes.com because of the *****.
- Narrator, on 04/11/2008, -0/+4Dugg for mentioning minuteclinic and heartstart, two innovations I've never heard about before.
- marc54, on 04/11/2008, -0/+3Buried for linking to the spam site forbes.com
- OfTheSun, on 04/11/2008, -1/+3Netflix is awesome. I watch my movies and I never have late fees. The price I pay per month is probably what I would have payed anyway for a rental and my usual late fee.
- momsshizzle, on 04/11/2008, -2/+4Buried. Most of these were not disruptive.
- cnorris1, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2thank you, so I didnt have to go thru the slide show
- canewediggit, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2tivo needs an honorable mention. i'd place it over the roomba in a heartbeat, but this is on a year by year so i don't think that works.
- jo21, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1where is nokia ? in 1998 they eat the whole world cellphone market share leaving motorola in the dust and now they own more than 40% of it
- floort, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1Agreed. I hate their forced ad-watch.
- terajoule, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1[ deleted ]
- MiNGLED, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1Agreed, most just launched products or services which were a bit better than before; iPod - a better designed MP3 player with good marketing, Roomba - a vacuum cleaner which has a little smarts (and I've still not met anyone who owns one).
- datacowboy, on 04/11/2008, -1/+1Yeah, where the heck is TiVo? They don't think broadcast advertising has been disrupted? How could they have missed that?
- baalzebub, on 04/11/2008, -3/+1Not mentioned is GNU/Linux which gives Steve (monkeyboy) Ballmer conniption fits...
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