Future Thinking
There's something to be said about making a splash. But unless you're a household name that spends millions in advertising, like Apple with their iPhone (as if they needed a plug), then you usually have to time the release of your product(s) with some big event.
Enter Future Publishing Limited (a Bath, England based firm), a London start to the Tour de France, and BikeRadar.com.
Future is monster of a publishing firm with over 100 magazines and 60 websites in its portfolio. For the cyclist, it publishes Procycling, Cycling Plus, Mountain Biking UK, and What Mountain Bike.
And as a part of the build up to the release of Bike Radar, Future recently purchased Cyclingnews.com and Bikely (a route mapping and sharing site that was brought to our attention some time ago by one of our readers, bdleaf).
Bike Radar is not only Future's attempt to increase its internet presence in cycling (and quite possibly an attempt to compete with Velonews.com, which recently incorporated MapMyRide.com into its resources), but also to create the ultimate online resource for cycling.
My initial reaction to the idea of Bike Radar was, AWESOME! How can that possibly be a bad thing?
But after reading that my favorite online cycling site, Cyclingnews, had been bought out, my joy quickly turned to skepticism and my attitude to one of "wait and see."
To me, Cyclingnews, has long been that Little Shop Around the Corner in a world of Borders and Barnes & Nobles. Its a site, which like a Bikely, had a grassroots beginning, but soon became a leader in its field. Its reporting is dependable and timely, and their knowledge base wide and varied (how many large cycling sites covered the North American Handmade Bicycle Show to the extent that James Huang did?).
In Ann Arbor, MI, where Borders is based, it would be blasphemous to even envision a time when Nicola's Books would be bought out and made to lose its distinctiveness. But if the upkeep of Procycling's online site is any indication, the incorporation of Cyclingnews into Bike Radar may do just that.
Perhaps my thinking is a little old fashioned, maybe even a little bit romantic, but when was the last time you heard someone say, "you know, that Starbuck's [coffee] shop sure has a lot of character," or "you know, that McDonald's, that one right there, sure is distinct."
Regardless, the "Future" is here, how bright it is remains to be seen.
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Will It Be On Your Radar?
Future Thinking
There's something to be said about making a splash. But unless you're a household name that spends millions in advertising, like Apple with their iPhone (as if they needed a plug), then you usually have to time the release of your product(s) with some big event.
Enter Future Publishing Limited (a Bath, England based firm), a London start to the Tour de France, and BikeRadar.com.
Future is monster of a publishing firm with over 100 magazines and 60 websites in its portfolio. For the cyclist, it publishes Procycling, Cycling Plus, Mountain Biking UK, and What Mountain Bike.
And as a part of the build up to the release of Bike Radar, Future recently purchased Cyclingnews.com and Bikely (a route mapping and sharing site that was brought to our attention some time ago by one of our readers, bdleaf).
Bike Radar is not only Future's attempt to increase its internet presence in cycling (and quite possibly an attempt to compete with Velonews.com, which recently incorporated MapMyRide.com into its resources), but also to create the ultimate online resource for cycling.
My initial reaction to the idea of Bike Radar was, AWESOME! How can that possibly be a bad thing?
But after reading that my favorite online cycling site, Cyclingnews, had been bought out, my joy quickly turned to skepticism and my attitude to one of "wait and see."
To me, Cyclingnews, has long been that Little Shop Around the Corner in a world of Borders and Barnes & Nobles. Its a site, which like a Bikely, had a grassroots beginning, but soon became a leader in its field. Its reporting is dependable and timely, and their knowledge base wide and varied (how many large cycling sites covered the North American Handmade Bicycle Show to the extent that James Huang did?).
In Ann Arbor, MI, where Borders is based, it would be blasphemous to even envision a time when Nicola's Books would be bought out and made to lose its distinctiveness. But if the upkeep of Procycling's online site is any indication, the incorporation of Cyclingnews into Bike Radar may do just that.
Perhaps my thinking is a little old fashioned, maybe even a little bit romantic, but when was the last time you heard someone say, "you know, that Starbuck's [coffee] shop sure has a lot of character," or "you know, that McDonald's, that one right there, sure is distinct."
Regardless, the "Future" is here, how bright it is remains to be seen.
There's something to be said about making a splash. But unless you're a household name that spends millions in advertising, like Apple with their iPhone (as if they needed a plug), then you usually have to time the release of your product(s) with some big event.
Enter Future Publishing Limited (a Bath, England based firm), a London start to the Tour de France, and BikeRadar.com.
Future is monster of a publishing firm with over 100 magazines and 60 websites in its portfolio. For the cyclist, it publishes Procycling, Cycling Plus, Mountain Biking UK, and What Mountain Bike.
And as a part of the build up to the release of Bike Radar, Future recently purchased Cyclingnews.com and Bikely (a route mapping and sharing site that was brought to our attention some time ago by one of our readers, bdleaf).
Bike Radar is not only Future's attempt to increase its internet presence in cycling (and quite possibly an attempt to compete with Velonews.com, which recently incorporated MapMyRide.com into its resources), but also to create the ultimate online resource for cycling.
My initial reaction to the idea of Bike Radar was, AWESOME! How can that possibly be a bad thing?
But after reading that my favorite online cycling site, Cyclingnews, had been bought out, my joy quickly turned to skepticism and my attitude to one of "wait and see."
To me, Cyclingnews, has long been that Little Shop Around the Corner in a world of Borders and Barnes & Nobles. Its a site, which like a Bikely, had a grassroots beginning, but soon became a leader in its field. Its reporting is dependable and timely, and their knowledge base wide and varied (how many large cycling sites covered the North American Handmade Bicycle Show to the extent that James Huang did?).
In Ann Arbor, MI, where Borders is based, it would be blasphemous to even envision a time when Nicola's Books would be bought out and made to lose its distinctiveness. But if the upkeep of Procycling's online site is any indication, the incorporation of Cyclingnews into Bike Radar may do just that.
Perhaps my thinking is a little old fashioned, maybe even a little bit romantic, but when was the last time you heard someone say, "you know, that Starbuck's [coffee] shop sure has a lot of character," or "you know, that McDonald's, that one right there, sure is distinct."
Regardless, the "Future" is here, how bright it is remains to be seen.
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