"Gas prices are just going up, up, up, just like Google stock, baby, just like the Google
stock," says Om Malik in his podcast with Niall Kennedy.
eBay isn't, and in fact it is considering
partnering with Microsoft (or maybe that's just a rumor it is putting out there for more bargaining power with
Google).
eBay isn't working hard enough to improve the user experience, says Niall, and despite the coolness
of Skype and Paypal, the core business - the auction business - is really where it needs to grow if the company is going
to continue to increase its earnings.
What does eBay need to do to accomplish that? Simple, Niall and Om tell us, do these five things:
- Integrate Paypal with the same address system, and with other services like Evite;
- Develop a shareware application;
- Have the ability to resell digital media like iTunes (maybe this is what they're thinking about with the Skype deal?);
- Create a separate eBay 2.0 company that helps facilitate digital assets;
- Buy Quicken and add it on to the eBay product line.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-27-2006 @ 2:40PM
Phil said...
Why Quicken? I don't see the connection of a finacial tax program (except maybe for doing your finacials on sales from eBay, but do you really need to buy a company to do that? Do you really need something that detailed?) and eBay.
4-27-2006 @ 4:49PM
Ed Hoffman said...
Interesting thoughts and suggestions for eBay. But I think you have forgotten that eBay already has some of the suggestions you have made. While using eBay for the past year, millions of users have noticed that a person can sell digital downloadable goods on eBay, and that Intuit's Quickbooks (parent campany of Quicken) is part of eBay's Accounting Assistance program.