By William Fellows
The EConsumer and Backdraft information will be strategic in determining the next generation of e-business products and services that IT companies will sell, according to Sun Microsystems Inc-Netscape alliance CTO Bud Tribble. He believes the shift in the balance of power to the online consumer has only just begun. The next phase will be consumers using the web to wield unprecedented power – you can see the beginning of that with start-ups providing reverse auction [following Priceline’s model] and real-time consumer aggregation, he said. The cheap sensors now being built into things people use everyday in their homes, cars and workplace will, Tribble forecasts, will create a continual stream of backdraft data into servers, which will use this data to turn around and provide services. The networked home and car are part of this, he said.
