Business 2.0 is now part of CNNmoney and some older articles are no longer available. If you click through you will be taken to the Internet Archive site to find an archived copy.
The limitations of space have long dictated the economics of exchange transactions… In the Network Economy, the limitations of space no longer apply… But a funny thing happened on the path to frictionless capitalism. The economics of distance died, but the economics of attention took its place… But in many markets, customers find themselves overwhelmed with vendors clamoring for their attention, and vendors find themselves in a desperate battle to acquire customers. Customers still need to search, evaluate, negotiate, and configure products on their own. What customers gained in reduced transportation costs, they seem to have lost in increased search costs. These search and evaluation costs continue to create significant friction in commerce.