TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:With millions of users now involved in them, virtual communities are beginning to attract the attention of global banks and corporations, which are looking at how best to tap into this growing phenomenon. Many industry insiders believe that the future of online commerce is a combination of 3-D and 2-D commerce -- bringing together the 2-D online shopping experience that so many consumers now access regularly for their shopping needs and the 3-D virtual communities that are increasingly being embraced by the wired world.

Many banks and companies are getting in on the ground level, building up a presence in one or more of the largest virtual communities in much the same way that they tiptoed onto the Internet in its early days. However, what business model will eventually be successful in making a real-world profit from virtual ventures remains to be seen. Estimates have put revenues from the virtual gaming and virtual community industry at almost US$10 billion by 2009, and this reflects only revenue by the hosting companies, not those entrepreneurs and corporations that are setting up shop and looking to eventually make a profit. All evidence suggests that figure will be just the tip of a very large iceberg...