However, that same soda may go for 44cnt on a frigid day in February. Most people hate to haggle, you protest. Let your smart card and the pop machine duke it out. Only the best of breed will cut it in the age of infinite and zero. Until now, a company could camouflage a dog behind its good products and a strong brand.
Vertical integration is kaput.
Currently spinning apart are telecom and financial services. The new-breed intermediaries will harness the power of chips, bandwidth, software and the Web. Consumer power will rise up. If 1,000 prospective buyers of Toyota Camrys knew of one another's existence, they'd have enormous potential clout. The Web makes this easy.