sell the most and sell the best

Yahoo! gives up quest for search dominance

What do Yahoo, Apple and Ferrari have in common?


Dave Taylor gave us a view that the story isn't inevitably an ending to win or die. I agree to that. What I can't agree to, however, is that the analysis to compare Apple, Ferrari, and Yahoo!.

Apple and Ferrari are both differentiating them from their competitors. That's right. But is it true also for Yahoo!? That's a doubtful question. And the doubt doesn't come from what their strategy is, but from the internet business ecology.

Apple and Ferrari produce excellent products hard to imitate. The cost to manufacture similar computer or sport car is huge. It's unnecessary to mention the brand effect.

So how about Yahoo!? First, the cost to develop web sites similar to Yahoo!'s products is relatively low. That's because of the nature of the production in digital age. This is also a problem annoying digital content vendors, by the way.

We maybe all agree to the fact that Apple and Ferrari have excellent products. But how to define the word 'excellent' in internet age. Could it be said Google search product isn't good enough?

Of course Yahoo! doesn't necessary to be number 1 in search market in order to be useful and valuable to internet users. But with the shrink in market shares, Yahoo! inevitably can't be to hold its scale now and their influence anymore. Of course Yahoo! doesn't go to crumble if their rank fall down to number 2, 3 or even worse, but at that time, what's deal with Yahoo!?

Don't forget that the reason Ferrari can survive is they sell less but more expensive. And Apple almost went to fall away for a time. Apple comes to life and thrive because of its fine and popular product iPod. The strategy of iPod isn't the one "don't sell the most, sell the best"
, but "sell the most and the best!"
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