Tim O’Reilly is evangelizing away at his afternoon keynote at BSEC: he brings up a phrase: asymmetric competition...people who are not in it for competing or making money, but end up detroying established business model. Examples are all around: Wikipedia, Craigslist and others. There was a related story in this weekend’s Sunday NYT: “Death by Smiley Face: When Rivals Disdain Profit”: Call it purpose-driven media, with a shout-out to Rick Warren, the author of “A Purpose-Driven Life,” for borrowing his catchphrase....These are new-media ventures that leave the competition scratching their heads because they don’t really aim to compete in the first place; their creators are merely taking advantage of the economics of the online medium to do something that they feel good about. They would certainly like to cover their costs and maybe make a buck or two, but really, they’re not in it for the money. By purely commercial measures, they are illogical.”
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