Now that Omniture is on the verge of swallowing Visual Sciences, the question is how well will Omniture move from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. Will the Visual Sciences acquisition help or will it distract? Another important question is what will Web 2.0 measurement look like? Will it be supported by a powerful new application or will it be supported by a platform that accepts components from a wide range of third-party developers? My guess - and it's just guess - is that Web 2.0 will eventually go the way of a te platform with components from others.
Why, because there are too many possibilities in Web 2.0. Web 2.0 measurement will have address a wide range of challenges including mobile device support, qualitative in addition to quantitative analysis, integration of multiple data sources, rich media, as well as address issues of visitor identification. Making Web 2.0 measurement even more complicated, most of these challenges will not have just one solution. One size solution fits all solutions won't cut it in Web 2.0 and beyond. I don't think anyone vendor will be able to be all things to all web sites. If they try, they won't succeed. Rather the vendor that develops a te platform that accepts a wide range of third-party add-ons will be enormously profitable.
In their Wall Street Journal article, Strategies for Being a Platform Leader, September 27, 2007, Annabelle Gawer and Michael A. Cusumano write about what it takes to be a platform leader. Two of the qualities of a te platform include solving "an essential technological problem for many players in an industry" and "be[ing] easy to connect to or build upon." In addition, a successful platform leader must "create economic incentives that encourage other firms to develop complementary applications for the platform, and at the same time protect its own ability to profit from its innovations. This balancing act is perhaps the greatest challenge to platform leadership."
The question is can Omniture do this. So far, these qualities have not been their strengths. However, now that they are acquiring a competitor will they have the vision and the ability to move from a killer application to a te platform? Will the Visual Sciences acquisition go to their heads and prevent them taking the steps needed for success in Web 2.0 What do you think?
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