End of the road

For most Web surfers, the Internet has been a free ride for as long as they can remember. From free e-mail to free news to free Internet access, the bonanza - fuelled by the race for eyeballs and a belief in advertising as a revenue source - seemed endless. Now, dotcoms are tightening their belts, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Far Eastern Economic Review 2001-03, Vol.164 (10), p.34
Main Author: Burns, Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising
Costs
Funding
Industrywide conditions
Internet access
Payment systems
Profitability
Web sites
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:For most Web surfers, the Internet has been a free ride for as long as they can remember. From free e-mail to free news to free Internet access, the bonanza - fuelled by the race for eyeballs and a belief in advertising as a revenue source - seemed endless. Now, dotcoms are tightening their belts, and this era is drawing to a close. Consumers will have to start paying for services on a leaner and meaner Internet. Surfers' fortunes are intrinsically tied to another kind of free ride, which has come to an end, too. It has been almost a year now since an eager young Internet company could expect a generous handout of capital just for having a dot in its name. Internet businesses are becoming more like real businesses, and real businesses cannot survive without real profits.
ISSN:0014-7591
1563-9339