You have it backwards in this case. It was Yahoo! who moved aggressively, trumping the other interested parties. The rumor broke the minute the conversation started in earnest in November. These deals take a lot of lawyering and paperwork, which is why the rumor and the reality were seven weeks apart including T-giving, Xmas, and New Years. There was no dallying or indecision on Y!’s part.

And, leadership? Compare the acquisitions of Delicious, MyBlogLog, and especially Flickr to Blogger and Dodgeball. Which do you think gets commoditized first?

Scott-

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. And congrats on creating and selling a service as quickly as you did. To clarify the post, I have nothing against the MyBlogLog service. The purpose of my post was to suggest that Yahoo needs to step up the pace and become a leader (again).

That being said, let me answer your question as far as my opinion on the service that will be commoditized first.

First and foremost, advertisers follow eyeballs. It only makes sense. Google has the #1 blog search product on the internet right now (according to Hitwise). When you combine the #1 blog search with one of the most popular blogging platforms, that puts Google ahead as far blogging and eyeballs are concerned. So I think Google will be able to monetize blogging first.

The problem with making Flickr into a commodity is similar to the problem Google is going to face with YouTube. People don’t go to Flickr to see ads. They go to Flickr to see photos. The mindset of a Flickr browser is different than the mindset of, say, a search browser. Furthermore, a lot of people don’t even see the Flickr site. Most people display their images from Flickr in slideshows, individual photos, or as part of one of those ticker-style strips of photos. People have to actually click the photo first, then get distracted from the photo at the Flickr site to even notice any sort of advertising. The same is true of del.icio.us. With the popularity of del.icio.us plugins and integration with other services, a lot of people never see the del.icio.us website.

Ultimately, the making of a lot of these services into something of a commodity will require a little fresh thinking and a new approach. But as far as eyeballs go, Google has Yahoo beat.

-Matt

[…] Had Yahoo purchased Google in 2002, that spectacular Google culture wouldn't have integrated well with Yahoo.  In effect, Yahoo would have killed the best thing Google had going for it.  Another "Google" would have stepped in to take over the spot.  Yahoo would not be sitting where Google is today.  Yahoo would be exactly where it is today:  following in the #2 spot.  Who knows who this other "Google" would have been.  But Yahoo would still have sealed its own fate, even if Google had been purchased years ago. […]