Is The Bubble Back?

Web 2.0 mania has been pushing the inevitable question to the fore: has the irrational exuberance of the late 90’s returned to the web world? Time Magazine proposes a number of arguments refuting this, some rather convincing (the legions of crazed day traders that epitomized the previous boom are thankfully absent) and some rather less so (Om Malik actually has to pay for his own dinner a few times a week). Human nature being what it is, it stands to reason that we would shy away from some of the more extreme excesses of the dot com implosion with their memory still so fresh in our minds. Nonetheless, it’s worth asking how much real substance there is to the current web boom.

My latest relevation on this topic occurred in the toilet. In the men’s room of Paris Bodega, to be specific, where NetVibes held its lavish bash (itself a possible hint that we might be getting ahead of ourselves) on the first day of Le Web 3 last week. Above each urinal there was a small card advertising a French startup called Brossadomicile.com (Brush home delivery):

The advertised service offers home delivery of toothbrushes on a subscription basis. The argument is that French people don’t change their toothbrushes nearly as often as the four times a year recommended by dentists. The obvious solution? Deliver a new brush to their doorstep every three months. This amused me greatly, although my mirth was somewhat tempered by the fact that the first couple of people I showed the card to immediately assumed that the joke was on me for believing such an obvious hoax. Subsequent research turned up their plausible-looking website as well as a laudatory article on TechCrunch that put paid to any lingering suspicion that someone was pulling our collective leg.

Is it me? Even if the company has correctly identified a problem that people actually care about, which I doubt, wouldn’t a free service that sends you an email reminder every three months be just as effective? I simply can’t believe that home delivery of a two euro item available on pretty much every street corner is a viable business. And this, to me, is one of the best indicators yet that the bubble is back, different but in many ways just as silly.

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