Retail
: I keep seeing more and more evidence of how online is changing — read: threatening — the offline world. Today’s small anecdote: I hit a half-dozen bookstores trying to buy Virginia Postrel’s book (it’s not in yet — though it has been shipping from Amazon for days) and I try to buy Roger Simon’s novel (it’s in-stock at Amazon but out of stock at the bookstores I’m trying). And I’m trying to buy Warren Zevon’s album (but it’s cheaper online — and I was half-tempted to wait until all the labels reduce their prices — at long last answering the pressure from online downloading). So I order from Amazon.
Offline is still too slow responding to online innovation. It’s more than disruptive technology. It’s destructive technology.
