Comments on: The Niche Get Richer

By: MJ99 PHP Scripts

MJ99 PHP Scripts — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:24:59 +0000

Great article. I appreciate the info.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 05:47:25 +0000

OurStory.com has a similar service to Families.com, which allows you to share timelines of personal and family history. There is also a photo feature, as well as the ability to print a nicely bound book which you can give as a keepsake. Their interface is a little easier to follow as well…

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Fri, 26 May 2006 00:34:45 +0000

I don’t know that finding a new niche is necessarily the key, it could simply be to find an existing niche and finding a new and creative way to deliver it. I guess that is like saying that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you just have to find a new way to package it.

Lonnie

By: Ward Andrews

Ward Andrews — Thu, 25 May 2006 20:49:34 +0000

Thanks Armand..the world of design and development has never been more HOPEFUL. The promise of the limitless niches (and where they can gravitate to, as Jeff points out..and who they can speak to, as Chris describes) is an example of this.

By: Ward Andrews

Ward Andrews — Thu, 25 May 2006 20:45:57 +0000

Love that thought Jeff…the niche is so often a spring board for greater things, especially in the case of Nike and Apple, they are putting their toe in the water of a huge oppportunity ..check out this patent: http://hrmpf.com/wordpress/79/apple-speeds-up-the-music/

By: Chris in Brasil

Chris in Brasil — Thu, 25 May 2006 19:38:58 +0000

Armand D — this post was actually by Ward (our honorable guest poster for May). Just wanted to clarify that.

Ward – good topic. I’ll also add that building apps and products for the web is one thing, but don’t forget multiple languages. There are 150 million people in Brasil who would probably be a great market for web apps if we just thought a little bit and built in a few extra languages.

By: Jeff Schinella

Jeff Schinella — Thu, 25 May 2006 17:15:19 +0000

…and don’t forget the other half of the equation, ‘The Rich get Nicher’. It would seem to me there’s a cyclical nature with the development of ideas and organizations, and yes, right now theres an upswing with all of these exclusive sites catering to specific ‘needs’. That in mind, I believe larger entities (Google) see the smaller ones (sketchup) and integrate the niche idea into a greater business landscape.

I’m not syaing we’ll see yahoo buy myspace, (they’d do it in-house ) but, eventually the niche becomes more than what it was at it’s inseption. For example, I can see Nike+ becoming not just a community for runners, but what about the walkers, do they get in too? Or maybe I can have a device on my mountain bike that talks with my ipod, and what about weightlifters, how bout my ipod telling my how many pounds I benched last week.

The idea of a community of runners online centered around music and running is a great one. I admit, I never wanted to run so bad in my life, but ultimatley this idea (and indirectly the community) will get consumed by itself (or larger idea), no longer becoming niche.

just a thought.

By: Armand D

Armand D — Thu, 25 May 2006 12:50:35 +0000

Y’know, it’s funny Chris. I have outlook of, “What HASN”T been done??!?!” But if we as web developers/designers were to think in such hopeless terms, then innovation would truly cease and the web/tech would be boring and monotonous. I suppose the old adage, “See a need and fill it” will always ring true. The trick is to find out and exploit what people really need or want.

Companies like Apple and Nike with their new iPod/Shoe system filled a need I didn’t even know I had until I saw that system. I must now ask myself, “How do I do the same thing in web design?” Sigh…