The future of Indian Web 2.0 brands - will they make money?

Anurag from DGM India posted an interesting piece about Web 2.0 brands on his blog.

I replied

Hi Anurag,

I would like to digress a bit.

I think its not technology at the core, rather as we move to open standards and free availability of source codes, technology would become more of an enabler (or means) rather than being at the core.

Yes, I agree that people with deep pockets do put tons of money behind these ideas and algorithms and it is very difficult for a small player to complete with them.

And you hit the nail on the head when you said that Indian companies don't have the mind-set to compete with offerings that are purely tech led.

Finally, talking about local search, online classifieds etc, I think they have a long way to go before they truly become effective. Currently the users that they have are mostly biased and same users are creating content everyone on the web. It will be effective when Internet becomes mass and people participate rather than just read.

Thanks,
SG

Any opinions?