There are at least 10 independently funded Ajax desktop applications now in popular use, with probably Netvibes being the strongest performer, and with almost certainly the highest user base (for now).
I am going to ignore Google, Yahoo, MSN for now. They will certainly gain huge userbases initially with their own offerings. The specialist services have to offer something better to grow, and currently they seem to be.
It has to be noted that some of the growth numbers are a little circumspect, and could easily be boosted by poor interface design that actually hampers their users.
As an example lets look at Alexa
Whilst on the surface it looks like Netvibes are way out in front of their competitors (and in some ways they are), the other services are much younger. Pageflakes (and friends) is catching up with Netvibes, having similar traffic (as per Alexa) to where Netvibes were 6 months ago.
It should also be pointed out that Netvibes experienced a sudden surge in growth in the middle of April this year. I am not sure whether that was due to a feature upgrade, a new partnership, or possibly a change in the way their user interface works. It is most likely the partnership, though all these services should encourage their users to install an Alexa toolbar ;) .
Similar partnerships are equally possible for the competition.
Features
Amazingly (or not) similar on the surface, the user interfaces actually function differently, and it is well worth experimenting with each service. Before today I found Pageflakes much faster loading, but harder to add new features by just browsing for components.
The new Pageflakes interface has taken a a giant leap forward in usability, and you can now find “flakes” a lot easier to customize your Ajax desktop.
Adding a new flake to your desktop, especially with my 288k connection (5x faster than dial-up), takes around 1/4 of the time comapred to Netvibes.
I have seen previous “comparrison” reviews from various commentators in the past that put an emphasis on the number of widgets available with Netvibes compared to other service.
What is rarely pointed out is how similar the implementation is for each service. It is very easy for a 3rd party developer to have their widget available on all services. The vast majority of widgets on Pageflakes seem to be homegrown, but that is bound to change. The API for Pageflakes if anything (I only looked at Netvibes compared to Pageflakes), seems much more straight forward, and I am more a project manager / marketing guy than a programmer.
Further reading
Richard MacManus’ Roundup “Ajax homepages market review”
The Pageflakes Community Announcement
I am sure Mashable will have some coverage today so will link directly when they do. Recently Pete Cashmore has been talking about Webwag.
But Andy, this isn’t a Web 2.0 blog!
Your observation is correct.
Here are some angles I will be exploring in future posts, and future niche websites.
- Pageflakes has an affiliate program based on CPA – it actually pays better than promoting “The Death of Adsense”
- Pageflakes isn’t a short ebook, but could quite easily help niche marketers organise their workschedule. The service has great benefits for internet marketers.
- There is a market for providing widgets for Pageflakes, Netvibes and other similar services. You don’t have to give the supported services away free.
- There is a market for providing Widgets that are funded by affiliate links
- You can make widgets related to your niche sites
- You can make shared pages related to your niches, with useful links
Ajax Start pages are not the same as Squidoo. You ae not going to get any search engine benefit from anything inside a shared page. It is all Ajax and Javascript.
Thus Ajax desktops are another opportunity. Unlike Myspace, Squidoo and YouTube, it is a relatively untouched marketing opportunity with the right tactics.
Update:
As expected Pete didn’t miss a beat. Here is Mashable’s overview of Pageflakes 2.0
Further coverage at Read Write Web – some interesting statistics on the number of widgets. I also noted in the comments complaints about spamming of Pageflakes affiliate URLs. My view on affiliate URLs might be different to many bloggers.
If a post or comment is on topic, then whether a link provided is affiliate or natural doesn’t matter.
In fact in most cases an affiliate URL, passing through a tracking program or cloaking, doesn’t leak page rank as much. I don’t use “no follow” on my blogs, so all comments are real backlinks.
Don’t forget Google, Amazon and Ebay all benefit from affiliate referral traffic. “If you build it, they will come” might be a mantra of Web 2.0, but if you pay money they will come faster.
One Comment
“I am sure Mashable will have some coverage today so will link directly when they do”
Yeah, your trackback came in a second before I posted. ;)