Ecommerce

Marc Andreessen, of Netscape fame, has written an interesting post on Internet platforms.  His analysis of Internet platforms suggests there are three types of platforms, which he refers to as Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.

He refers to platforms like paypal and flickr as level 1 platforms with their “access” and REST interfaces.  He categorizes platforms like facebook’s popular platform, as level 2 (or “plug-in” type) platforms.  Finally, he mentions level 3 platforms like ning, saleforce and amazon where the apps run on the host platform.

He predicts an increase in level 3 Internet platforms.  It is an interesting read and available here.

Internet platforms are increasingly important in ecommerce.   In this previous post on making web services/API profitable, incentive schemes to promote platforms are also mentioned.