Mary Meeker called where we’re at now a “boom-let”. We’ve gone from boom to bust to boom-let (presumably a precursor to the next boom). She thinks the first 10 years of Web were just the warm-up act for what will happen next. She’s particularly bullish on mobile technologies, which definitely haven’t matured yet. Mary mentioned in her speech here at the conference that 2009 would be the year of 3G.
Susan Mernit thinks the upcoming.org sale to Yahoo! marks the beginning of a boom. She sees the recent acquisitions of Google and Yahoo! as a sign they’re building “the base tool set/platform for a consumer-driven Web 2.0.” I agree with that and it shows the Web 2.0 ‘space’ is heating up big time. But does that make it a bubble yet, or will it take more mature broadband and mobile technologies to push it into a market-driven frenzy?
I’ve kind of mashed up Mary’s and Susan’s termininology to re-name Mary’s boom-let to bubble-let. At the Web 2.0 conference, I’m sensing the buzz of a bubble. But I’m new here (in the Valley). So I wonder what others think. Are we now in a Web 2.0 bubble? Or is it still a bubble-let – opportunities are bubbling up but not quite frothy yet? What do you think?
