Web 3.0: Madison Avenue Money Trumps TechCrunch40 Cool Apps
What a telling Web 3.0 juxtaposition: Just as Michael Arrington and Web 1.0 veteran Jason Calacanis set-off on their highly orchestrated “unveiling” of 40 handpicked “cool” Web 2.0 apps in the heart of Silicon Valley, it is Silicon Alley that AOL is christening the “world’s advertising capital” for its headquarters in completing a “transition from an access business to a global, ad-supported Web company.”
Calacanis is on his umpteenth transformation–Silicon Alley Reporter, Weblogs, Netscape, Mahalo, TechCrunch–and AOL is taking four “agressive steps” to “revamp itself and grow its advertising business”:
1) building a world-leading display advertising network;
2) products and programming leadership on the Web;
3) rapid international growth;
4) right-sizing the company’s cost structure.
When will it be the turn for two year old plus TechCrunch’s formula to wear thin?
After all, the widely hyped TechCrunch parade of 40 ”cool apps” supposedly launching under veil of secrecy over the next 48 hours includes already widely known and massively hyped startups, such as Powerset and Flock.
How about the few cool apps annointed by Arrington and Calacanis that really have not been on the tech radar as of yet? From all reports, it will be the same old, same old TechCrunch rally for geek love, with stand alone business models VERY, VERY optional.
The real, big action is now, more than ever, with the big guys–Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL. The “exit strategy (hope)” for many of the soon to be TechCrunch40 veterans is most likey an “acquisiiton” by one of the big four. Arrington and Calacanis have shrewdly included the big guys in their 40+ mix.
The dynamic TechCrunch40 duo, however, does not quite champion business plans for the developers of the cool apps they champion.
What will be the fate of the overwhelming majority of the TechCrunch40 “winners”? With very slim real chances of being scooped up for real money by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, and scant compelling business model opportunities to make real money, their coolness may very well be fleeting.
Once TechCrunch champions are no longer cool, what will be the fate of TechCrunch in the Web 3.0 world?
UPDATE: TechCrunch40 Debuts with Search: Google Beware? and Mint.com: TechCrunch 50,000 Winner or Loser? and TechCrunch40 Fuels Hacker Dreams While DeadPool LOOMS