idgetsWay

Patrick April 5th, 2007

I’ve spent a fair amount of time exploring the widget economy in recent weeks, and it occurs to me that there is no easy way to describe the various mutations of widgets that are spawning across the software universe. Intuitively, I wanted a framework on which to better understand the various ways in which widgets are evolving. So I sat down and tried to create one. The landscape is changing daily, so my work here may be outdated as soon as its published, but I find the following widget market segmentation intriguing.

• Desktop: Apple, Opera, Windows, Yahoo
• Webtop: Google, NetVibes, PageFlakes, YourMinis
• Netttop: Clearspring
• Pubtop: Blogger, Typepad, Widgetbox, WordPress
• Mobtop: Koloroo, Opera Mobile, Widsets, Zenzui

The examples in each of these segments is not meant to be exhaustive. To be sure, there are many other purveyors of widgets that fit into each. Perhaps one day, I’ll attempt to quantify the widget universe further and create a detailed list. In the meantime, read more to learn how I define each of these segments.

Desktop

This segment may seem obvious, but it includes every kind of widget that relies on a specific computer operating system of software program to run. Apple’s Dashcode, Windows Vista Gadgets, and Yahoo’s Widget Engine are the most common examples. These widgets may require the Internet for their content, but they don’t require the Internet to run. It may seem odd to include Opera here, but you must download and install the Opera browser to use Opera widgets, so I include it in desktop. Konfabulator (later purchased by Yahoo) is the modern precursor to this category of widgets.

Webtop

These are websites that allow users to create custom pages by dragging, dropping and configuring widgets. Google’s homepage when personalized with their gadgets is likely the most used of these, but NetVibes, PageFlakes and YourMinis are doing some interesting things in this segment. NetVibes in particular seems to have won favor among the technical blog set, helping it to gain early traction among users. My Yahoo was the early standard bearer for this category, and many content sites now feature similar capabilities (MyESPN, etc.).

Nettop

Companies that syndicate widgets for a variety of widget platforms fall into the Nettop segmet. Nettop widgets are typically made available through a proprietary distribution system that allows the syndicator to track the widget’s preformance and report metrics back to the content owner or developer. Nettop widgets are basically snippets of HTML code that have been wrapped in a package that makes it easy to acquire, install and configure. The widget syndication companies with the early leads appear to be Clearspring–which has deals with several major content owners and features an innovative widget selection method–and Widgetbox.

Pubtop

These are widgets that have been specifically designed for web publishing systems like Blogger, Typepad, and WordPress, as well as the many less popular content management systems such as Drupal, Expression Engine, and TextPattern. Pubtop widgets are often just basic snippets of code that users must copy and past, but many widgets in this segment have been designed specifically for a particular publishing system, enabling one-click acquisition.

Mobtop

Mobile, or Mobtop, widgets are designed specifically for mobile devices like mobile phones and iPods. Koloroo recenty anounced two widgets for iPods, and Apple’s iPhone will sport a modified version of of its desktop Dashboard widgets. Widsets allows you to download multiple widgets directly to your mobile phone, and Zenzui is rolling out a mobile widget ecosystem based on its tiles approach. Expect to see a lot of activity and real end-user value in the mobtop category.

I’ll admit that the distinction between Nettop and Pubtop widgets may be narrow, and there is some overlap across these segments. But to me, the widget economy is evolving nicely along these lines, and it helps me to segment the market in these ways to better understand what’s going on.

Technorati Tags: widgets, gadgets, tiles, blogs, syndication, publishing, content

• big picture , syndication , web , desktop , mobile
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