Word: portal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Nokia has been through this before in the early 2000s, when in deference to operators it toned down an initiative called Club Nokia, a portal for selling games and ringtones. But things are different this time, because as Kallasvuo put it, the Internet, and in particular the mobile Internet, "is one of the most opportunity-rich markets the world has ever seen." Nokia can't step aside for operators because the competition is already fierce and because more boundaries between which companies do what are falling every day. Not only has Apple entered the phone business...
...quibbling already, I'm getting ahead of myself. I acquired my iPhone shortly after 6:00 on launch day at the Apple store in midtown Manhattan, a subterranean emporium located underneath the plaza in front of FAO Schwartz and accessible through a crystal portal leading to a spiral staircase, befitting the fairy-tale mood. The crowd was astounding, hundreds of people (granted, many of them were TV crews) gawking and yelling and cheering the first customers to emerge with their iPhones. In a way it's disturbing to watch America fall in love with a piece of technology again...
...lawyers are also taking on Microsoft, having filed an antitrust complaint over the way Bill Gates and Co. allegedly hamper competitors' desktop searches. On the consumer front, Google has recently faced a surge of criticism over its privacy policies. Privacy International, a U.K.-based civil liberties group, gives the portal poor marks in a new report, calling Google the new Microsoft because the portal now yields so much power. And after Google Maps introduced street-level images recently, critics complained bitterly about the company's roving cameras...
...makeover of Disney.com unveiled in February, reflects that mind-set. The content of the site used to be heavy on information and light on entertainment. Now the portal is billed as a one-stop shop for all things Disney, from fan chat rooms to interactive games to video of movies both vintage and new and do-it-yourself vacation planning to Disney destinations. To capitalize on the mania surrounding the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the elaborate DisneyPirates.com site plunges visitors deep into the virtual world of Captain Jack Sparrow, beyond the usual trailers, screensavers...
...What else might Google offer? Possibly a Google Reader widget. The portal recently announced that its blog-reading tool can now be accessed offline. And though the iPhone could access Reader through its browser, a widget would be particularly useful when speedy mobile Web access isn't available. And why not a YouTube iPhone widget, now that YouTube is on Apple...