Dot-coms have grown up - get used to it

Don't knock dot-coms. Sure, we all know a fair few that fell by the wayside. In many ways it was just the nature of being a start-up. But results out recently show an aristocracy of home grown online ventures going along nicely, thank you very much.

Today lastminute.com reported healthy results (though how it says its profits went up 141.2 per cent to £1.6m when the corresponding quarter a year earlier saw a £4m loss we don't know) and yesterday ebookers also bucked a worldwide trough in travel and related industries to show some new economy pluckiness.

Online bank Egg is now also a household name. It's been the subject of criticism, not least on these pages, but also praise. It too is now on a firm financial footing.

If anything, it is mobile operators, those giants of the new economy, that still face greater challenges. The story of 3G debt has been told to death but announcements this week show there is still a land grab going on.

Whereas most dot-coms are either successfully working their plots now or long forgotten, operators are clamouring over content. Messaging - increasingly instant messaging - and games will prove important to their futures but content deals have been hogging headlines.

Third-generation pioneer 3 has done a deal to further position it as a football highlights distributor and today we hear that not only is O2 again jumping on the Pop Idol bandwagon fresh from another summer of Big Brother but Vodafone has teamed with Sony Pictures Entertainment Properties for gaming based on well-known content such as Charlie's Angels movies and shows such as Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

Hats off to the people at these operators putting together these deals. They know they must present a spread of compelling offerings to a largely consumer, fun-seeking customer base.

But there is also a sense that they are ducking and diving, hoping for something to stick. Contrast that with an online bank, which is much more like established institution in its offerings, or an e-tailer, again aping older rivals.

There is more of a certainty now about the dot-com space. Telecoms is still threatening another big shake out.

But then maybe we're speaking as a dot-com.

Who are this year's movers and shakers in business and technology? We're looking for candidates for the first CNET Networks UK Awards, to be held in October. See this page.