Yesterday Seesmic bought Ping.fm, and Critical Path bought Shozu. Speaking as a user of Seesmic, Shozu, and Ping.fm I could comment on synergies, but that’s not the really interesting story here. Since the summer, conversations about “consolidation” and “roll-ups” have been rumbling in the communications industry. These two events are the beginnings of some application roll-ups around social networking systems. Seesmic is broadening the reach of it’s services to over 50 other social networks. Critical Path is taking it’s core identity assets, and carrier relationships and adding applications to sell to the carrier.
Congratulations to all four companies on being out ahead of this trend. For the companies that survived 2009, 2010 will be an interesting dance as boards and CEO’s figure out whether they are buyers or sellers. Some, like Seesmic and Critical Path, have already made that determination.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
