MyToons: Youtube of Cartoons? In wonderland!!!

Few days back an interesting site launched its Beta version: Mytoons It looks like a great idea becuase Text, Audio, Video, Pictures...all these types of contents have been completely gobbled up by Internet sites. Noone needs introduction to Youtube, Flickr or Blogs. The only untapped item in the content list is "Animation". On top of that, I think that the content sharing websites will become "vertical". So we will see more and more proliferation of websites specializing in one particular category. MyToon seems to be following the same trend and it is trying to capture the Cartoon/animation segment of the data.

It seems to be a good idea, but I would refrain from putting my money on the site. Some ideas look good on paper but lack the mass appeal because of poor understanding of the market.

Youtube and Flickr are widely popular, primarily because of the fact that the users can generate content for these websites. Digital cameras and Video creating devices are readily available in the marketplace. Most videos and pictures on these websites are home-made. That is the real strength of youtube and flickr. I fail to understand how I can create an animated film by readily available devices in my home/marketplace.

Some Issues with Mytoons:

1. Users will not be able to create content and this will make it extremely hard for the website to reach its critical mass.

2. If users start putting Animated films from Hollywood studios on Mytoons, then it will be in deep trouble because of pending lawsuits.

3. "Barriers of Entry": How will Mytoons compete against giants: Youtube/Flickr if they decide to enter this market segment?

4. Technology: Mytoons supports only Firefox and Flash 9. A lot of users will be disappointed if they are unable to visit the site first time. I had a hard time seeing the product myself. My opinion is that they released the product a bit early. Its not even BETA ready yet.

My two cents: Good luck and make some changes to the business model very fast. In its present form, I am not ready to put my money on it.

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MBA and technology

Most MBA students are not technology savvy. I consider myself (and few others) as exceptions. Having worked in technology companies for several years, I was looking for opportunities outside of my domain, and thats how I ended up in b-school. Guess, it happens with everybody. People get bored. They get bored of their living style, their compensation package, their daily routine jobs. Everything.Coming from a technology background, it was natural for me to get attracted to other domains...exciting world of Finance (???), marketing, operations (!!!), general management. Eventually, I learned that nothing excites me more than the technology. Am I stuck here forever now? Well, it depends on how we look at it. I spend several hours a day searching for "something" on internet. This something could be new technologies, news, music, blogs, articles. I feel unaccomplished if a day goes when I do not do that. I have realized that I love being in my world of Internet. And therefore I am going to live here...if it is forever..then so be it.

I am starting this blog today (Feb 24th 2007) and I am going to use it to analyze new technologies, new companies, and new market trends in my world (Internet).

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