If it was the end of the year and I had to predict the most obvious upcoming trend, I probably would find myself in a crowd of analysts that pick phrases like "empowering the consumer" or "further emancipation from traditional media," or something like that.
There seems to be a relentless "ebaying" and "craigslisting" of the world. The launch of
kijiji.com (
mentioned here yesterday) is just another step into that direction.
The last year has seen a bunch of launches of new consumer-oriented services, ranging from online services for borrowing things in your town (
dieborger.de, for example), finding cheap craftsmen or other services, not to mention all the price-comparision tools available that are significantly changing the way people shop.
Newest example from the UK:
Zopa, an eBay-style banking website. It was launched Monday and is designed to help people get cheaper loans and better interest rates by bypassing the middlemen (the banks). BBC News Magazine has
more on that.
I do need to get outta the house, though. Craig
