Why is online bibliographic information so unimportant?

摘要

There is a fundamental difference between the world of real-time financial, and of bibliographic information online. The former is highly profitable, the latter rarely breaks even. The paper examines the major characteristics of the two types of online service in terms of customer base, pricing policy, growth rates, etc., and draws conclusions as to why bibliographic information online is so unimportant, and so unprofitable, compared to financial information services. The paper concludes with some thoughts on whether the bibliographic online business can ever become viable.