There are probably a lot of radical and exciting business models that could have been tried even without the Web.
In fact, I have noticed a very interesting phenomenon recently. The Internet has now started influencing the business models of non-Internet companies. Not just brick-and-mortar companies moving online, but startups that don’t require the Web at all. And they're all venture capital–backed!
 

Web Fosters Innovations

Look at some of the business models that have become popular since the Web exploded on the scene: manufacturers selling direct to consumers, companies giving away free products in the hope of coercing us into buying upgrades or reading ads or subscribing to services. There's broad consumer access to information and capabilities that used to be available only to a select few. And let us not forget everyone's favorite business model: running an unprofitable company for years on the generosity of its investors.

These same models are now creeping into new markets. For example, several companies offered free e-mail and fax services over the Web, then added voice mail. That's a nice idea, but voice mail does not really require the Web. In fact, it's much easier to pick up voice messages by phone than to do so from a Web site. So it was only a matter of time before someone came along and offered free voice mail, hold the Web. One such company is EVoice in Silicon Valley. The catch: When you call in for your messages, you have to listen to a 10- to 15-second audio ad first. EVoice also lets you pick up your messages off a Web site, but my guess is that's just window dressing so EVoice can pretend to be an Internet company so it can get funding.

TiVo (TIVO) and Replay TV follow the Web's information-on-demand model by creating a box that captures and stores just the television programs you want to see--a personalized TV portal. At Upside Media's Launch conference last October, I came across a company extending that model to broadcast radio. Called Command Audio, it offers a receiver that captures programs licensed and rebroadcast by Command Audio on special frequencies. Like the TV boxes, it captures just the programs you want to hear and plays them when you want them.
Command Audio's first device, which costs $199, is intended for automobile commuters. The service, at $19.95 per month, includes programs such as local traffic reports, weather, excerpts from National Public Radio, even excerpts from the front page of the Wall Street Journal. If you really insist on using the Web, you can set your programming on the company's Web site, but it isn't required. "Media on demand started on the Internet," says CEO Don Bogue. "But this fits better into people’s lives." Still, he plans to expand into new devices and delivery systems—including the Internet—later.
All Shook Up

The most interesting point about this migration from the virtual world to the real one may be that it required the catalytic effect of the Internet to spark these innovations. There are probably a lot of radical and exciting business models that could have been tried even without the Web. But we're so used to the status quo, we need something like the Web to shake us up.
Let that be a lesson to all of us. You don't need to be a dot-com company to develop an innovative new business model. And if you pitch it right, you may even get the VCs to back it. Just tell them that the Internet component comes later.

Source: Forbes, Jan 04, 2000