Fundamentally, the problem I see with the URL-shortening "market" is that there's almost no entry-cost, it's cheap to run, and the margins are very small. How

Fundamentally, the problem I see with the URL-shortening "market" is that there's almost no entry-cost, it's cheap to run, and the margins are very small. How much code is a URL-shortening service? Like 50 lines of code + a mysql table? It's like a day's work, maybe two, to handle 90% of the features people need. And it's like a few MB of database and almost no processing power for each request. And there's like no lock-in. I have no reason to use bit.ly over TinyURL or =>.ws, because they're all nearly the same, and it's not like they'll retro-actively break the links if I use another service. As a result, they're competing with almost zero differentiating features in a market with no entry costs, no lock-in, and no obvious way to monetize. There's no way most of these services are going to stick around when they realize this.