On Friday, the Web 2.0 strategy book was referenced in a USA Today article with the title,
"Tech tools bring big success for small firms".

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/...ness-tech_N.htm

Ed Iwata's article is well worth reading--and not just because he has a great quote from me on how surprised small business owners are by the vast improvement that affordable technology brings--"they may not understand the technology, but they understand the impact it can have on their business....At one-tenth the cost, they can reach 10 times more users and 10 times more partners at 10 times the speed."

The article points out that even tiny, cash-strapped firms can use the new online services since some are free, others might cost a per usage or subscription per month and most are way under total costs of 10k. Just five years ago, this very same infrastructure might have required millions to be paid upfront.

Some great examples included a small antique store in New Orleans that not only survived Hurricane Katrina but is growing 20% a year due to new international customers and sales, a chocolate beans business to new tech tools being used by auto-repair, plumbing, delivery trucks and swimming pool maintenance firms.

The message is clear for traditional small businesses--the Fortune 50 Million. And it's becoming loud and clear for the Web 2.0 services providers-- startup or Yahoo, Google, eBay, Amazon and Intuit. After all, small and midsize businesses are expected to spend $82 billion on technology in 2008, according the the IDC report cited in the article.

This post has been edited by Amy Shuen: May 12 2008, 06:12 AM