Do pardon me if I'm being obvious or not addressing your question, but the following examples spring to mind: pets.com, etoys, et al. -> zappos, altavista, go

Do pardon me if I'm being obvious or not addressing your question, but the following examples spring to mind: pets.com, etoys, et al. -> zappos, altavista, goto, yhoo, et al. -> goog, broadcast.com, real media, "quicktime TV" -> youtube These examples were all established a few years after the original players came in fully loaded with cash, hype, etc yet failed to solve or even identify underlying problems.