20 TO WATCH IN 2007

Author: Kate Worlock, Director & Lead Analyst

This report profiles companies, projects and services which EPS believes will have an important impact on the publishing community in 2007.

This year, our selection of companies falls into six categories, as shown below (click here to view EPS? 20 To Watch in 2006 report). Far more of the selected companies this year come into the search and technology categories: this reflects the moves on the part of many content providers to deliver tools and services which embed into their users? workflow, and demonstrates where new potential challengers could come from.

Search and datamining

Endeca

Eurekster

Globalspec

Snap.com

ZoomInfo

Social networking and communities

Facebook

IT Toolbox

Last.fm

YouTube

Business models

edgeio

SimplyHired

zillow.com

Virtual worlds

Second Life

Bookmarking and tagging

Digg

Technologies

Dapper

Fronter

Mozilla Firefox

Ruleburst

Salesforce

Zimbra

The impact which these players may have could be technological or strategic. The services chosen are not necessarily new market entrants or small start-ups, but have demonstrated during 2006 that their offerings have shaken up the marketplace in which they operate such as to force publishers to re-evaluate their activities. For example, the Mozilla Firefox browser was first launched in 2004, but its product has clearly already influenced the functionality of Microsoft?s new IE7 browser, and the upcoming launch of Firefox 3 is expected to shake-up this space still further.

Some of the services profiled in this report are changing the way in which end users access information, and as such are challenging publishers to come up with new and innovative ways of serving their audience. Several demonstrate the way in which community can be harnessed. Salesforce is a good example, with products from its AppExchange service now generating significant revenues, while Eurekster demonstrates that true Web 2.0 companies really do depend on their users to make the service work more effectively.

Others may prove to be useful services to watch for other reasons. For example, Second Life is currently struggling with a piece of copying software, but instead of developing a DRM solution or calling in the lawyers, Second Life?s owners have elected to see how this problem can be dealt with by the community. This could provide a useful indication of the way in which copyright developments could take place in the real world.

The intention of this report therefore is to indicate where changes are taking place in and around the world of publishing, to try to shed some light on where publishers may find new competition and threats emerging, and to suggest how the landscape of information delivery will continue to evolve in 2007.