Aggregators cometh!

Hi there,

So I read today that the Web-Based IM Firm eBuddy received $6.3 Million Funding. The Amsterdam-based online IM startup, has received about $6.3 million in a first round of capital from Lowland Capital Partners. EBuddy allows users of ALL major IM services to log in online and chat without installing the software. The company says it has over 35 million users worldwide including 4 million mobile users and adds over 1.5 million new users to its network each month.

The VC round got me thinking:

Many of the new dot.coms are all aggregators now! They are solving the problem of search cost and cross-platform problems.

Aggregation is also part of the larger picture of disruptive innovation that is threateneing and dismantling patterns of media production, distribution and consumption, amongst other things, from Skype, MySpace to YouTube, from Zopa to Digg. Another new venture coming up is something called Tape it of the internet - which is all about indexing online TV content. There are so many web services and web based applications coming up now, that consumers need aggregators and facilitators to FILTER and MANAGE their interaction with the online world. I've heard people say jokingly that Google is the remote control of the internet, but really, it IS just that. Surfing? That's old world internet. Welcome to WEB 2.0!

But if the issues for aggregators are many, what are the issues, opportunities and markers emerging around disruptive business models? And is the internet now, as home to the upsetters, finally reshaping business and markets more generally?

What are your thoughts readers?