10 years of e-commerce

A couple weeks ago, the Software & Information Industry Association released a ranking of the 10 most significant e-commerce developments of the past 10 years.

It's an interesting list and one of those that is bound to spark some debate. The asscociation, which worked with a panel of experts, tapped Google as its top pick for most siginificant e-commerce development. Pretty hard to argue against that one.

What impressed me was how these top 10 developments are all things we pretty much take for granted today and for good reason - many of them have been around awhile. Seven of the 10 are from 2000 or earlier.

The only top 10 pick I have a little bit of a problem with is No. 8, User-generated content. I think it is too early to say how much of an impact things like You-Tube will have. Is anyone making money off of it?

Other picks to note -- iTunes, broadband access reaching 50 percent, e-Bay, Google word ads.

The list shows how much bigger the world has become.