wired internet is dead

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YOU WAKE UP AND CHECKy ou r-em ail o n y ou r bedside.iPad-that's on e app, Duringbreakfast you-browse Face-book, Twitter; and T he N ewYork 1Ymes-tluee_ more apps,Onthe W a y tothe office,you lis-tentoapodeaston your smart-phone.Another a p p.A t w o rk ,you s c ro ll through RSS f ee d sin a reader a nd h av e S ky p ea nd1M conversations. More apps'.At the endof the day ,you comehorne , make runner wh il e lis-tening toPandora,playsomegamesoriXboxU'le; and watch

amovieon Netffix's streaming service, O J You've spent~hedayon th e Internet-but not on'the Web. Andyo U a re n ot a lo ne . O J This is r io t a tr tv la l d i st in c ti on .Over the Past fe w years, on e of th e m ost importantshifts illthe digital worldhas been the mov e f romthe wide-open Web,to semiclosed platforms th~t

u s. 'As much as Chaos isn't a

business model.Anewbreedofmedia mogulsis bringingorder-andprofits-to thedigital world .

, w e'lo veth e o pen ,unfetteredWeb,.we;re'~band6i1ing it' fo,rslmpter ,sLeeker servicesthat just work.BYCHR:I:SRNI)E,R~DN

AN AMUSING DEVELOPMENT INthe past year or so-if youregard post-Soviet financeasamusing-is that Russianinvestor Yuri Milner has, bitby bit, amassed one of themost valua ble stakes on theInternet: He'sgot 10percentof Facebook. He'sdone thisby undercutting traditionalAmerican yes-the Kleinersandthe Sequoiaswhowould,in days past, insist ona spe-cial status in return for theirearly investment. Milner notonlyoffers better terms than

VCfirms, he sees the world differently. The trad i-tionaLVChas a portfolio of Web sites, expecting afew ofthem to besuccesses-a goodmetaphor forthe Web itself, broad not deep, dependent on theconnections between sites rather than anyone,autonomous property. Inan entirely different stra-


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use th efuternet fo rtran sp ort but no t th e b ro wse r fo rd is p la y. I t's d r iv en p rim a ril y b y th e r is e o fth e" iP h on em od el of m obile com puting , and it's a w orld G ooglec an 't c raw l, on e w here HTML d oesn't rule. A nd it'sth e w orld th at c on sume rs a re in cre asin gly choosing,n ot b ec au se th ey're rejec ting th e id ea of th e W eb bu tbecause these d ed ic ated p latform s often just w orkb ette r or fitb et te r in to t h e i r lives (the screen comesto th em , th ey don't have t o g o to W e s cre en );'T he f ac t

The machine-to- _machlne future IS l e s s -about brow si ng andmore about getting.

that it'S easier fo r compan ies to m a ke mo ne y o il t he sep la tf orms o nly c em e nts th e tr en d . P ro d uc ers and con-su mersa gree: T he W eb is n ot th e c ulm in atio n o f th e'd igital revolution. '

A d ecad e ago, the ascent of the Web- br ow s er a s th ec en te r o f th e c om p utin g w orld a pp ea re d in ev ita ble . Itseemedjust a m a tter of time b ef or e th e Web r ep la ce dPC app l ica ti on software and re du ced o peratin g sy s-tem s to it "p oorly d eb ugg ed set o f d ev ic e d riv ers," asNe ts c ap e c o fo unde r 'Ma r c And re e ss en famou s ly said:First Java, thenFl.asJJ..thenAjax,thenHTML5-,---incr~as-_ ~ Iy in te ra ctiv e o nlin e o od e= -p romis ed to p ut all appsirrth e c lo ud a nd re pla ce th e d es kto p with t he web to p .O p en ,f re e, a nd o ut o f c o ntro l.B ut th ere h as a lw ay s b ee n a n a lre rn ativ e jiath.one-that saw the W eb as a w orthy tool but not the W holeto olk it. I n 1 9 97 , WIRED p ub lis he d a n ow -in famo us" Pu sh !" c ov er s to ry , w hic h s ug ge ste d th at it w as tim eto ';k iss yo ur brow ser go od by e." T he argu ment th en"was th at "p ush " technologies such as P ointC ~t and -M i cr os of t's A c tiv e D e sk to p would c re ate a " ra d ic alfutu re o f m ed ia be yo nd th e W eb."

"S ure, w e'll alw ays h av e W eb p ag es. W e still h av ep o stc ard s a nd te le gr am s ; d~n'tw e? B ut the c enter of

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in te ra ctiv e m ed ia -in cr ea sin gly , th e c en te r o f g r av ityof allmed ia -is mo vin g to a p o s t -HTMLe nv ir onmen t, "we p romised near ly a d e c ad e a nd half ago. The examp l e so f t he tim e w ere abi t s i lly -a "3-n furry-muckers.Vksp ace" an d "h ead lines sen t to a p ager"~ bu t the p ointw as a lto ge th er p resc ie nt..a g lim p se o f t he m ac hin e-to -m ac hin e f utu re th at w ou ld b e less ab ou t b rowsin gand more a bou t g et ti ng .

_ ,A s it h ap p en ed , P oin tC as t, a g lo rif ie d s cr ee ns av er,th at c ou ld inadvertently b rin g you r co rp orate n et-w or k to its k ne es , q uic kly im p lo d ed , taking push withit. But j ust a s W eb 2 .0 isS imp ly Web 1 .0 t ha t wo rk s, theidea ha s come around again. T ho se p u sh c on ce pts h av enow reappea re d as MIs, apps, a nd th e smartphone,And this t ime we h av e Ap p le a nd t he iP h one! iP ad j ug -gernaut le ad in g th e w ay , w ith ten s o f m illio ns o f c on -sumers alreadyvotingwith t he ir wa ll et s f o~ an app-lede xp er ie nc e. T his p o st-Web f utu re n ow lo ok s a l ot mo reconvinc ing , I nd ee d , it's a lr ea dy h er e.

T he W eb is, after all, just on e of m any ap plications -th at ex ist o n th e Internet, whic h u ses th e IF an d 'repp ro to co ls to move p ac ke ts a ro un d , This architecture-n ot th e sp ed fic.ap plic arion s b uilt on to p o f i t-is th e-r ev o lu ti on . Tod ay tb e c onte nt y ou s ee i i J . your browse r-largely HTML da t a de l iv e re d via th e httpprotocolenp ort S O-ac co un ts f or le ss th an a q ua rte r o f t h e tr af fico n.th e I nte rn et . .. and i t's s hr ink ing . Th e a p p li ca ti on sth at ac co un t f or m ore o f t he In tern et's traf fic in clu dep ee r- to -p ee r f ile tr an sf er s, ema il, c om p an y VPNs , t he

- m ac hin e- to -m ac hin e c ommun ic atio ns o f AP Is , S ky pecalls; Worla 'ofWarcraft a n d ether o nlin e g am es , X b oxLive, i'I 'unes, voice-Qver-lPphones, iChat, andNetfl ixmo vie s tr eamin g. M a ny o f th e n ew er N et a pp lic atio nsa re c lo se d , o f te n p r op r ie ta ry , n etwo rk s,

And the shift is only accelerating. With i -l l f iv ey ea rs, M o rg an S tan ley p ro jec ts , th e n um be r o f u se rsac ces sin g th e N et f rom m ob ile d ev ic es will surpassth e' n um ber w ho access it from pes. Because thesc reen s are sm aller, suc h m obile traffic tend s to bed riv en b y sp ec ia lty s of tw are, m ostly ap p s, d esig nedfora single p urp ose. F or the sak e of th e o ptim izedexperience o n mobile d e vic es , u se rs f or go th e g en er al-p urp ose b rowser. T hey u se the N et, bu t no t t h e Web.Fast beats-flexible.

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THIS WAS ALL INEVITABLE. It is th e c yc le o f c ap ita l-ism . T he s to ry o f i n du stria l re vo lu tio ns, a fter a ll, is as to ry o fb at tl es o ve r c o nt ro l. A t ec h no lo gy is i nv en te d ,it sp re ad s, a th ou sa nd f lo we rs b lo om , an d th en s om e-o ne fin ds a w ay to o wn it, lo ck in g o ut o th ers. Ithap-p en s e very tim e.

Take ra ilroads . Uniform a nd o p en g au ge s ta nd a rd sh elp ed th e in du stry b oo m an d c reated an ex plo sio n'of c om petitors-in 1 92 0, there w ere 1 86 m ajor rail-ro ad s in th e U S . B ut e ve ntu ally th e s tro ng est o f t h emro lled u p th e o th ers.an dto day th ere are ju st sev en -a re gu la te d o lig op oly . O r te le ph on es, T he in ve ntio n

The open , I nternet hasa lw ays .b ee n a fictio n. B utbecause we confusedthe W eb w ith the Net,wed id n 't s ee it.

of th e sw itc hboard w as another op en stand ard thata ll ow ed n etwo rk s to i nt er co nn ec t. A ft er te le p ho nep atents held by A T& T's p arent com pany ex pired in1 894, mo re than 6 ,0 0 0 i nd e p en d en t p h on e c omp a nie ss p ro ut ed u p . B u t b y 1 9 39 ,AT&Tcont ro ll ed n ea rly a ll o f

, .th eUS 's l on g, d i st an c e l in es a nd s om e f ou r- fi fth s o f i tst el e phones, Or e lec t ri c ity . Int h e e ar ly 1 9 005 , a f te r t hes ta nd a rd i za tio n t o a lt er na tin g c u rr en t d i str ib u ti on ,hundreds O f smal l e le c tr ic u ti li ti es we re con so li d at edin to h ug e h old in g c om p an ie s. B y t he la te 1 92 0s , th e 1 6larg est o f t ho se c omman ded m ore th an 7 5 p erc en t o fth e e lec tric ity g en erate d in th e U S . .

In deed , th ere h as h ard ly ev er b een .a fo rtu ne c re-ated w ithout a m onop oly of some sort, or at least an 'ol igoP0ly. This i s t he natliral:pathofindusma!iZatiOn:I nv en tio n, p ro p ag atio n; a do ptio n; c on tro l. .

N ow ir s t he We b 's turn t o f ac e t he p r es su re f o rp i of it sa nd .t he w a ll ed g ar d en s t ha t b ri ng t hem . O p en ne ss is awonderful thing inth e n oru no neta ry ec on om y o f p e erp ro d uc ti on . B u t e v en tu all y o ur t ol er an c e f or t he d e lir i-o us c h ao s o fi il fin it e c omp et it io n f in d s i ts l im it s. M u c h .a sw e l ov e f re ed om a nd c h oi ce , w e a ls ol ov e thingsthatju st w ork , re lia bly an d se am le ss ly . A nd ifwe.have to ,p a y f o rwh a t ,w e l ov e ,we l l, that i nc re as ing ly s eems OK .H a ve y o u l oo ke 'd a t y o ur c el l p h o ne o r c ab le b il l l ate ly ?

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As Jonathan L. Zittrain puts it in The Fu tu re of th eInternet+And Howto Stop It, "It is a mistake to thinkof the Web browser as the apex ofthe PC'sevolution."Today the Internet hosts countless dosed gardens; ina sense, the Web is an exception, not the r u l e .Monopolies are actually even more likely in hikhly

networked markets like the online world, The darkside of network effects is that rich nodes get richer.Metcalfe's law, which states that the value ofa net-work increases inproportion to the square ofconnec-tions, creates winner-take-all markets, where the gapbetweenthe number one and numl;lertwoplayersistypically large and growing,

So what took so long? Why wasn't the Web colo-nized by monopolists a decade ago? Because it wasin itsadolescence then, still innovating quickly witha fresh and growing population of users always look-ing for something new. Network-driven dominationwas snort-lived. Friendster got huge while socialnetworking was in its infancy, and fiI:kle consumerswere still keen to-exper iment with the next new thing.They found another shiny service and moved on, justas they had abandoned Sixlregrees.com.before it. Inthe expanding universe ofthe early Web, AOL'swalledgarden couldn't compete with what was outside thewalls, and so the walls fell.But the Web isnow 18years old. Ithas reached adult-

hood. An entire generation has grown up Infront of abrowser. The exploration of a new world has turnedinto business as usual. We get the Web.It 's part ofourlife. And we just want to use the services that makeour lifebetter. Our appetite for discovery slows as ourfamiliarity with the status quo grows.Blame human nature. As much aswe intellectually -

appreciate openness, at the end ofthe day wefavor theeasiest path. We'll,payfor convenience andreliahility,Which iswhyiTunes can sen songs for 99 cents despitethefactthattheyareout ICONTINUEO ON PAGE164

Blamethem

most advanced form of online media and design-turned outto be a pretty piss-poor advertising medium.For quite a while this was masked by the growth

of the audience share, followed by an ever-growingad-dollar share, until, about two years ago, thingsstarted to slow down. The audience continued togrow at a ferocious rate-about 35 percent of all au rmedia time is now spent on the Web-but ad dollarsweren't keeping pace. Online ads had risen to some14 percent of consumer advertising spending buthad begun to level off. (In contrast, TV-which alsoaccounts for 35 percent ofour media time, gets nearly40 percent of ad dollars.)What's more, there was the additionally sobering

and confounding fact that an online consumer con-tinued to be worth significantly less than an offlineone. For a while, this was seen as inevitable right-

Othertechnologistssteer clear of mediabusinesses; Jobs builtthe most successfulmedia businesses of thepast generation .sizing: Because everything online could be tracked,advertisers no longer had to pay to reach readerswho never saw their ads. Youpaid for what you got.Unfortu nately, what you got wasn't much. Consum-

ers weren't motivated by display ads, as evidencedby the share of the onli ne audience that bothered toclick onthem. (According to a 2009 comSco restudy,only 16 percent of users ever click on an ad, and 8percent of users accounted for 85 percent of al lclicks.)The Web might generate some clicks here andthere, but you had to aggregate millions and millionsof them to make any money (which is what Google,and basically nobody J CONTINUED ON PAGE 166

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th ere, som ew here, in som e fo rm , for free.W h en y ou a re yo un g, yo u h av e m ore tim e'than mone y, a nd L im eWrre is w o rt h t he h as -s le . A s y ou g et o ld e r, y ou h av e m ore moneyth an tim e. T he iT un es to ll is a sma ll p ric e top ay for th e s im p lic ity o f just g ett in g wh at. y ouwan t .The mo re Fa cebook b e comes p a rto f y o ur l if e, th e mo re l oc ke d inyou b ec ome . .Ar t if ic ial scarc ity is th e n atu ra l g oa l o f t heprofit-seeking.

T he re is a n a na lo gy to th e c urre nt W e b i nt he f irs t e ra o f t he I nte rn et. I n t he 1 9 9 0s , a s i tb e came c le ar t ha t digital n etw o rk s w e re th ef utu re , th ere w ere tw o w arrin g c am p s. O new as th e tra d itio na l te l c os , o n w ho se w ire sth es e f era l b its o f t he y ou ng In te rn et w ereb ein g s en t. T h e t elc os a rg ue d th at th e m e ss yprotocols o f TCP/IP-all this unpredictablerou ting and th ose lo st p ac kets req uiringres en ding-w ere a c ry fo r h elp . W h at c on-

buffering d isks on our Y ouT ube vid eosrath er th an ac cep t th e F au stia n b arg ain ofs om e C omc as t/ Go og le Q o S b an dw id th d e alth at w e wo uld in va ria bly e nd u p p a yin g mo refo r. A sid e f ro m s om e c orp ora te n etw ork s,d u mb p ip es ar e wha t th e w orld w an ts f ro mt el co s. Th e i nnova ti on a dv ant ag es o f a n o p enm ark etp la ce o utw eig h th e lim ite d p erf or-m an ce a d va nta ge s o f a c lo se d s ys te m.

B u t t he Web is a d i ff er en t ma tt er . Th ema r -k et pl ac e h as s p ok en : When it c om es to th ea p p lic atio ns th at r un o n to p o ft heN et, p eo -p le a re s ta rti ng t o c h oo se q ua lit y o f s erv ic e.We wan t Tw ee tD e ck t o o rg an iz e o ur Tw itte r

. f ee d s b ec au se it 's m o re convenient th an th eTw itte r We b p a ge . T h e Go og le M a p s mo bi lea p p o n o ur p h on e wo rk s b ette r in th e c ar t ha nth e Go og le M a p s Web S i te o n o u r l ap to p . A n dw e'd ra th er le an b ac k to re ad b oo ks w ith o urK in d le o r i Pa d a pp th an le an f orw ard to p ee ra t o ur d e sk to p b row se r.At th e a pp lic atio n la ye r, th e o pe n in te r-

n et h as a lw ay s' b ee n a fic tio n. Itw as o nlyb ec au se w e c onfused th e W eb w ith th e N etth at w e d id n't see it. Th e ri se o f m a ch in e-to-m ac hinec ommun ic ation s-iP ho ne ap p s .t alk in g to Tw it te r AP lg "" ::is al l a bo ut c on -trol. E very API com es w ith term s of ser-v ic e , a n d Tw it te r, Amazon.com, Googl e, o rany oth er com pany can control th e use asthey will. W e are choosing a new form ofQ oS : c usto m a pp lic atio ns . th at ju st w ork ,th anks to cac hed content and loc al cod e.

s um ers w an te d w ere " in te llig en t" n etw ork s . E ve ry tim e y ou p ic k an iPhone app instead.that could (for a p rice) find the right p ath of a W eb site, you are voting w it h y ou r f in-an d p ro vision th e rig ht b and w id th so th att ra nsm is sio ns wo uld f low u nin te rru p te d .O nly t he o wn ers of th e n etw orks c ould p utth e in te llig en ce in p la ce a t th e rig ht s po ts,

g er: A b et te r e xp e rie nc e is w o rth p a yin g f or ,either inc as h o r i n im p lic it a cc ep ta nc e o f anon-web-standard.

In the m ed ia w orld , this has taken the

s ub sc rip tio n re ve nu e (c he ck o ut WIR.ED'Sc oo l n ew iP ad a pp l) ., The W eb won't take the sequestering ofits c ommer cia l s p ac e e as ily . T h e d e fe nd e rso f t he u nfettered W eb h av e th eir h op es seto nHT lV lL5- th e l at es t v e rs io n o fWeb build-ing c od e t ha t o ff er s a p p lik e f le xi bi lit y- as a no pe n w ay to s atis fy th e d es ire f or q ua lity o fs er v ic e .I ta st an d a rd Web b rowse r c an a c t l ik ean ap p , o f fe ri ng t he sor t o f c l ean i nt er fa c e an d .s eam le ss in te ra cn vit yth at iP ad u se rs want,p e rh a p s u se rs will r es i st t he trend t o t he paid,closed, and p ro prie ta ry . B ut the businessf orc es li nin g u p b eh in d c lo se d p la tf orm s a reb ig a nd g ettin g b ig ge r, T his is s ee nb y m an ya s a b attle fo r t he s ou l o f th e digital frontier.. Z ittra in 'a rg ue s th at th e d emis e o f th e all-encom passing, w id e-op en W eb is a d an:gerous thing, a loss of op en stand ard s ands erv ic es th at a re " ge ne ra tiv e" -th at a llo wp eo ple to fin d n ew u se s f or th em . ''T he p ro s-p ec t o f te th ere d a pp lia nc es a nd s of tw are a ss erv ic e, " h e w ar ns , " p erm its m a jo r r eg ul a-t or y i nt ru s io n s t o b e imp lemen te d a s minortec hn ic al ad ju stm ents to c od e o r requestst o s er vi ce p r ov id e rs ."

Bu twha t i s a c tu a ll y emerging i s n o t qu it eth e bleak future' of the Internet th at Z it-t ra in env is io n ed . .It is o nly th e fu tu re o f t hec ommer cia l c on te nt s id e o f t he d i gita l e co n-omy. E c omme rc e c on tin ue s to th ri ve o n t heW eb, an d no c om p any is go in g to sh ut itsW e b s ite a s an in fo rm a ti on re so ur ce . Mo re. im p orta nt, th e g re at. v irtu e o fto d ay 's W e bis that s o mu ch 06t is noncommercial, Thew id e-o pen W eb of p e er p ro du ction ,th e so-c alled ge nerativ e W eb w here ev ery on e isf re e to c re ate w ha t th ey wa nt,c on tin ue s toth riv e, d riv en by th e n onm onetary in cen -

and th us th e Intern et w ould bec om e a v alu e- fo rm o f a sh ift fro m ad -sup p orted fre e c on- .tiv es of ex pression , attentio n, rep utation ,ad d ed servic e p rovid ed bytheA T& Ts of th e tent tofreem ium -free sam ples as m arket- and the like. B ut th e notion of th e W ehaswo rl d , mu ch l ik e ISPNbef or e i t . The rallying ing for p aid serv ices-W ith an emp hasis' the ultim ate m arketp lace for digital de l i v -cryw as "quality of serv ice" (Q oS ). O nly tel- on the "p rem ium " p art. O n the W eb, av er- eryis now in d oubt.cos could offer it, and as soon as c onsumers. age CPM s (the p rice of ad s p er thousand The Internet is the real revolution, asdemanded it, th ete lc os w o uld win. im pressions) in key content categories im portant as electric ity; w hat w e d o w ith

T he op posing cam p argued for "d um b" suc h as new s are falling, not rising , because it is s t il l evo lv ing. A s it m ov ed from youru ser-ge nerate d p ages are floo ding F ac e-b oo k and .o th er site s. T he assu mp tion h adnetw ork s. R ath er th an c ed e c on trol to th etelcos to m anage the p ath th at bits took,

argued its p rop onents, just treat the net- .w ork s a s d um b p ip es an d let T CP /IP figu reout th e r ou ti ng . S o wha t ifyouhav e t o r es en da few tim es, or th e latenc y is all ov er thep la ce . J us t k ee p b uild in g m ore c ap ac ity -" ov erp ro vis io n b an dwid th " = an d it willbeGoo d Enough. '

O n.th e u nd e rly in g I nte rn et its elf , G oo dEnough ~as w on. W e stare at the sp inning .

o iii m SEP2010

been that once the m arket m atured , bigcomp anies w ould be able to reverse theh ol low in g- ou t tr en d o f a na lo g d o ll ars t ur n-in g in to d ig ita l p en nie s. S ad ly th at h as n'tbeen the case for m ost on the W eb, and bythe looks of it there's no ligh t at the end 'of that tunnel. Thus the shift to theap pm od el on rich med ia p latform s like theiF ad , w here lim ited free content d rives

d esktop to your p ocket, th e nature of theN e t c h an ge d . T h e d e lir io us c ha os o fth e o p enW e b w as a n a d o le sc en t p h as e s ub sid iz ed b yin d us tr ia l g ia nts g ro p in g th eir w ay in a n ewwo rld . N ow th ey 're d o in g wh at i nd u str ia l-ists d o b est +finding c ho ke p oin ts . A rid b yt he l oo ks o f i t. we 'r e lo vi ng it. ~.///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

E d ito r i n chi~fcHRIS ANDERSON([email protected]) wro te abou t th en ew i nd us tr ia l r ev olu ti on i n i ss ue 1 8 .0 2 .

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1a random link an d m ay h av e n o id ea w hy th ey ind iv id ual sh areho ld er in on e o f th e w orld 'sare v isitin g a p artic ular . s ite-o r, in d ee d,wh at s it e t he y are visiting. Th e~ a re t he exacto pp osite o f a lo ya l a ud ien ce, th e k in d th atyo u m ig ht ex pe ct, o ver tim e, to in cu lc atew it h y our me ss age.W eb au dien ces h av e g ro wn ev er larg er

ev en as th e q uality o f t ho se au dien ces h ass hriv ele d, lea din g ad v ertise rs to p ay les sand less to reach them . That, in turn, ha sm ea nt th e r is e o fj un k- sh op c on te nt p ro vid -e rs -l ik e Demand Me d i a-whi ch h av e deter-m ined - that the only w ay to m ake m oney

else, w as able to d ot And the W eb alm ost online is t o spend even less on content thanp e rv er se ly d is co ur ag ed th e kind of system- a d ye rtis er s a re willing to p ay to a dv er tise

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atized, c oo rd in ate d , f oc us ed a tte ntio n u p onwhichb ra nd s a re b uilt -th e p rim e , o r a t l ea stm o stiu cr ativ e, f un ctio n o f m e d ia .

Wha t's mo re , this med ium r en d er ed p ow-e rl es s t he ma rke te rs a nd a genc ie s thatmighthave beenable to turn this c h ao ti c me ss in toan e f fe c ti v e- se ll ir ig t ool -t h e same market er san d professional.salespeople who c re at edthe f~mats (the variety show s, the 30-s ec or ia sp o ts , th e s oa p o p er as ) th at w o rk edso w ellin tele visio n a nd ra dio . A d vertis -in g:p ~erh -ou se W PP , fo r in stan ce, w ithi ts co los sa l network o f m a rk etin g f irms -th e s al! le f irms th at h ad s ha pe d tr ad itio na lm ed i'a,~ y m atc hin g c on ten t w ith ad s th atmovedthe nation-m ay still rep resent alar g~ .* we o f G o o gle'sre ven ue , b ut it p ale snext t o 'th e g re ater p op ulatio n o f in d iv id -u al s elle rs th at u se Google's A dWord s an dAdSe ns e p r og rams.

O ne result of the relative lack of influ-en ce o f p ro fes sio na l s ales pe op le a nd h uc k-sters+the d emo cr at iz atio n o f m a rk etin g,i f y ou will-is that ad v ertis in g o n th e W e bh as no t d ev elo ped in th e su btle and craftyand c ontro llin g w ays it d id in o th er medi-u ms.T he in effec tual b an ner ad , c reated(ind eed by the found ers of this magazine)in1 99 4:-a nd n ev er m uc h lik ed b y a n yo ne inth e r na rk etin g wo rld - still r em a in s th e f ou n-d atio n o f d isp lay ad vertisin g o n th e W eb .

A nd th en th er e's th e au d ie nc e.A t s om e n ev er -q uite -a dmitte d le ve l; th eW eb aud ience, however m easurable, isn ev er th ele ss a f ra ud . N ea rly 6 0 p erc en t ofp eo ple f in d W e b s ites f rom se arc h engines,much of which may be d riven by SED , or" se ar ch e ng in e o p tim iz atio n" - a n ew -e co n-om y acronym t ha t r ef er s to gaming Google 'salg orith m to la nd to p re su lts f or h ot s ea rc hter ms. In o th er w ord s, m an y o f t he se p e opl eh av e bee n e ss en ti al ly c o rr al le d i nt o c li ck ing

om B SEP2010

against it. T his fu rth er ch eap en s o nlinec on te nt, m ak es v is ito rs e ve n le ss v alu ab le ,a nd c on tin ue s to d im in is h th e c re d ib il ity o ft he me d ium .

Even in the face of th is d ownw ard sp i-ral, the d esp airing have hop ed . B ut thencame the recession, a nd th e p an ic b utto n g otp u sh e d . F in a ll y, a ft er y ea rs o f e xp e rimen ta -t ion , c ont en t c omp an ie s c ame toa d i st ur bi ngc on clu sio n: T he We b d id n ot wo rk . Itwouldnever bring in t he buck s. And s o t h ey b eg anlo ok in g f or a n ew mo d el, o ne th at le ve ra ge dth e p owe r o f t h e I nte rn etw ith ou t th e v alu e-d e str oy in g s id e e ff ec ts o f t he We b. An d th eyfound S te v e J ob s, who+rumor had it-wasw ork in g o n a n ew ta ble t d ev ic e.

Now , ot !- h et ec h no iogy s id e , wh at th e Webh as la ck ed in it S d e te rm in atio n to turn itselfin to a f uli- fie d ge d m ed ia f orma t is a ny bo d ywho knew a nr th ln g a bo ut m e d ia . L ik ew is e,o n th e. m ed ia sid e, th ere - w asn 't a nyb od ywh o k newa ny th ir ig a bo ut te ch no lo gy . T hish as b ee p a f un da me nta l an d ac hin g d isc on -n ec t: T here w as no sub lime in tegra ti on-of

b igges t t ra d it ional me d ia c ong lome ra te s- ind eed m uch o f J ob s: p erso nal w ealth liesin h is tr ad itio na l m e d ia h old in gs .

Infact , Jobs h ad , th ro ug h iT un es , alig ne d -h ir ns elfw ith tr ad itio na l m e d ia i na w ay th atG oo gle h as always re sis ted . In G oo gle 'so pen an d d istribu ted m od el, almostany-bod y can ad vertise on nearly any site andG oo gle g ets a c ut- its in ter es ts ar ew ith th em ob. A pp le, on the other hand , gets a cu ta ny tiin ea ny bo d y b uy s a m o v ie o r song-eftsin te re sts a re a lig ned w ith th e tra ditio nalcontent p rovid ers. (This is, of course.ac om p lic ate d' a lig nm en t, b ec au se in -e ac hd ea l, A p ple h as q uic kly c om e to d omin ateth e relatlonship.)

So it'snot shockingthat Jobs' tPad enabled vision o fm e d ia 's f utu re lo ok s mo relike media's past . Inth is sc en ario , Job s isa m ogu l straig ht o ut o f th e studio system.W h ile G oo gle m ay h av e c on tro lle d traf fica nd s al es , Ap p l e c ont ro ls the conten t i ts e lf :Indeed , it r eta in s a bs olu te a p pr ov al r ig htsoverall third-party a p p li ca ti on s . Ap p l e c on-trolsthe lookand f ee l a nd e xp er ie nc e. A n d ,w hat's m or e, it c on tro ls b oth th e c on te nt-delivery system (i'I'unes) a nd th e d ev ic es( iP od 's , iP ho ne s, a nd iP ad s ) th ro ug h wh ic ht ha t c ont en t is consumed.

S in ce_ th e d aw n.o fth e c omm erc ial W e b,te ch no lo gy h as e clip se d c on te nt. T he n ewb usin ess m od el is to try t o l et t he c ont en t-t h e p roduc t, as it w er e- ec lip se th e te ch no l-o gy . J o bs a nd Zuekerberg ar e trying to d oth is lik e o ld -me d ia mogu ls , fine-tuning al lasp ects of th eir p ro du ct, p rov id in g a m ored esig ned , d irec ted , an d p olish ed exp eri-e nc e. T he ris in g b re ed o f e xc itin g In te met

content and system s, of exp erience and , serv ices-like Spotify; th e h otly antici-f un ctio nality-no c lever, su btle, M ach ia p ated stream ing m usic serv ice; an d Netftix;vellianoverarchlngdesign a ble to create . whic h le ts u sers s tre am m ov ie s d ire ctly tothat codependent relatio nsh ip b etw ee;n th eir c om pu ter sc reens, B lu -rayp layers, oraud ience, p rod ucer, and marketer. Xbox 360s-a!so pull u s b a c k f rom the Web.

Jobs perfectlyfills th at v oi d. Other-tech- W e are returning to a w orld that already .n ol og is tsh av es te er ed c le ar of ac tual med ia exists-one in which w e ch ase th e tran s-businesses, see ing themselves as r en te rs o fs ys tems a nd th ir d -p a rty f ac ilita to rs , o fte ndeeply wary o f an y in vo lv em en t w ith c on -tent. (See , fo r instance, Google CE O EricS chm id t's in sisten ce that h is co mp an y isno t in th e co ntent b usin ess.) Jo bs, o n th eo th er h an d " b uilt t w o o f th e m os t su cc es s-ful med ia bu si ne ss es o f t h e p a st g ener at ion :i'I'u nes , a c on te nt d is trib uto r, a nd P ix ar , am ov ie s tu dio . T he n, in 2006, w ith th e sa leo fPi xa rt o D i sne y, J ob s bec omes t he b igges t

f orma tiv e e ff ec ts o f mu si c a nd f ilm in ste adof ourorief ( re la ti v el y speak ing) fiirtationwit h t he transformative e ff ec ts o f t h e We b.

After a long trip , we may be cominghome.1W//////////////$//////////////////////AW//////////////#MICHAEL WO_l.FF ([email protected] om ) i s a n ew con tr ibut ing ed i to r f orWIRED. He i s a ls o a c olu m ni st fo rVanit y Fa ir a n d t he t ou n de r o fj /ew se r,a n ews -aggr ega t io n s i te .

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wired internet is dead

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