THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS:

The old story of technology in business was a trickle-down affair. From telephones to computers, big companies came first. They could afford the latest innovations, and they reaped the benefits of greater efficiency, increased sales and expansion into distant markets. As a technology spread and costs fell, small businesses joined the parade, though from the rear. . . .

The second-generation Internet technologies — combined with earlier tools like the Web itself and e-mail — are drastically reducing the cost of communicating, finding things and distributing and receiving services online. That means a cost leveling that puts small companies on equal footing with big ones, making it easier for upstarts to innovate, disrupt industries and even get big fast.

The phenomenon is a big step in the democratization of information technology. Its imprint is evident well beyond business, in the social and cultural impact of everything from blogs to online role-playing games. Still, it seems that small businesses, and the marketplace they represent, will be affected the most in the overall economy. Long-held assumptions are suddenly under assault.

Hey, somebody should write a book about this!

UPDATE: Speaking of which, here’s another Army of Davids blog review! Scott Schmidt isn’t as taken with the nanotechnology, etc., in the book as he is with the more near-term stuff, though I would note that those advanced technologies are included not just because I think they’re cool (as he correctly guesses), but also because they represent things that will vastly amplify the trends I describe earlier in the book. That’s a point I thought I made pretty clearly, but I guess I was wrong.