As the country sits in a deepening recession, things are getting a bit dire and companies are cutting costs in a bid for survival.

However it’s worth remembering that the economy – and the tech scene in particular – has always been cyclical. In addition to that, busts are the time the “real” companies survive. The ones with actual business models, that solve real problems, that produce products that people are actually willing to pony up their hard (and currently harder) earned money for.

There’s no question that Web 2.0 is winding down. In the beginning, we had some real innovation – AJAX, web video, flickr, delicious, MySpace, Facebook, social media. The bubbly apex of this cycle was YouTube being bought by Google. Then somewhere along the way, iteration usurped innovation. In 2009, many of these questionable companies will shut down. There are just too many.

Watching users react to the culling will be interesting – because Web 2.0 had so much “social” going on, many users have created a personal bond with the services, more so than with Web 1.0. I expect a lot of hemming and hawing from jilted users, possibly anger, and perhaps lawsuits. Failed social networking sites really should do right by the users and offer data portability so people can get their hard-earned contacts and user created content out of the system. The worst of all roads would be a company selling its user base information and content off, which happened during the Web 1.0 crash.

But that said, there is no question there are new, great ideas to be had. I have no idea what they are, but I’m certain they will come about during this downturn. It’s a safe bet they will emerge from a group of some recently-laid off nerds, who while unemployed, decide to start some project out of passion – out of love for code and solving problems – and not with any desire make any money. Necessity is the mother of invention. Everyone who was “in it for the money” will be out of the picture, and the nerds can create real stuff without the distractions that a bubble often creates.

At times like this I always return to the origin story of Apple. Two guys in a garage. Steve Wozniak just wanted to build a cool computer he wanted to use, and Steve Jobs wanted to change the world. Money wasn’t part of it. But consumers could recognize a quality product and know it was worth paying for. That’s the kind of stuff I’m waiting for – and I hope to write about it on this blog when it happens. 

 Please subscribe to the Webomatica RSS Feed!

Posted In: Technology

Related Posts:
TV Everywhere, Served Up By The Usual Suspects
Blu-Ray: A Bag Of Hurt
Haven't Watched All That Many Blu-Ray Movies

Previous Post: Mad Men: Long Weekend
Next Post: Music Notes: Sam Phillips, Omnipop