The Board of Innovation’s ’10 Business Models that rocked 2010’ slideshow offers a look at some of the most interesting business models that came to prominence in 2010.

Here are the highlights:

1. Kickstarter.com: Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors. Project creators inspire people to open their wallets by offering smart, fun, and tangible rewards (products, benefits, and experiences). Every project must be fully funded before its time expires or no money changes hands. If a project is successfully funded, Kickstarter applies a 5% fee to the funds raised.
2. AirBnb.com: AirBnb connects people who have space to spare with those who are looking for a place to stay. Users rent out spaces, such as an apartment or a room, to each other. AirBnb charge the host a 3% fee. They also charge the traveler a 6-12% fee on top of the price.
3. Quirky.com: Quirky is trying to socialize product development. Anyone can submit ideas. The community and Quirky.com staff rate the ideas and the one with the highest score becomes Quirky’s next product. Quirky shares 30 percent of all top line revenue brought in by direct sales on quirky.com, as well as 10 percent of indirect retail sales revenue, with each product’s influencers. About 35 percent of that reward goes to the ideator/inventor.
4. Free with in-app sales: The sales of virtual goods often outperforms mobile ads – 6 out of the top 10 grossing iPhone apps used the in-app business model.
5. HumbleBundle.com: Humble Indie Bundles are a series of game bundling experiments that allowed users to purchase collections of multi-platform DRM-free independently developed video games online in a ‘pay-what-you-want’ manner. Customers decide how much they pay, and how the money is split between developers and charity.
6. PayWithATweet.com: In today’s world the value of people talking about your product is sometimes higher than the money you would get for it. ‘Pay with a Tweet’ is the first social payment system, where people pay with the value of their social network. More a marketing tool that a business model.
7. Spotify.com: Spotify offers a basic music streaming service to music fans for free. Advertisers cover the costs. A small percentage of fans pay for a premium service. Record companies are starting to make more money out of Spotify than iTunes.
8. Groupon.com: Launched in November 2008, Groupon features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in more than 300 markets and 35 countries. The deal of the day group buying business model turned Groupon into the second fastest company to reach a billion dollar valuation – the fastest being YouTube. Groupon even turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google recently. Customers typically saving 50% or more off the retail price. Groupon takes 50% commission from every sale.
9. Flattr.com: Flattr was founded to help people share money, not just content. Before Flattr, the only reasonable way to donate has been to use Paypal or other systems to send money to people. The threshold for this is quite high. Flattr solves this issue. When you’re registered to Flattr, you pay a small monthly fee. You set the amount yourself. At the end of the month, that fee is divided between all the things you flattered. Flattr takes a 10% commission.
10. PatientsLikeMe.com: PatientsLikeMe enables people to share information that can improve the lives of patients diagnosed with life-changing diseases. To make this happen, they created a platform for collecting and sharing patient data and establishing data-sharing partnerships with doctors, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, research organizations, and non-profits. People find other patients like them to connect and learn from their experiences. PatientsLikeMe collects the data and sells them for huge sums to pharmaceutical companies, research organizations, etc.

Did you come across other inspiring internet business models in 2010? Please share them below.

Full story at Board of Innovation »

“The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood” has been a best seller for more than month, selling nearly 100,000 copies. But how many copies will it sell as a $16.99 enhanced e-book complete with 30 minutes of video? The eight videos include two color stick-figure representations of the late Mr. Mantle’s swing as a left-handed batter and a right-handed batter. A traditional e-book edition has sold more than 9,000 copies.

With tablet and e-reader sales continuing to mount, publishers are facing a conundrum: How much will consumers pay for digital texts enhanced with videos, author interviews, and in some cases archival material?

“When both digital editions are available, and consumers are given the choice, in half the cases they’ll pay more for extra content,” said Ana Maria Allessi, publisher of HarperMedia.

“We sold more than 4 million physical books with CDs, so we know that there is an interest in meshing text with audio and video,” said Dominique Raccah, publisher and owner of Sourcebooks Inc.

Although definitions vary, a book app usually features rich media and involves interactivity on the part of the consumer, but may not have the entire text. An enhanced e-book usually includes the entire text plus audio, video and other additional content, and may be priced higher than the app.

The number of enhanced e-books today for sale is very small; HarperCollins, for example, has produced 11 enhanced books since April but boasts a digital library of 8,400 titles in the U.S. and 14,000 globally.

Is your company exploring book apps and enhanced e-books as new revenue sources?

Full story at the Wall Street Journal »

Check out the rise in ‘MATURe materIALISM’: experienced, less-easily shocked, outspoken consumers who appreciate brands that are more daring, outspoken, even a bit more risqué.

Maturialism is part of a much bigger trend, which has been dubbed Brand Fabric. This trend, which at its core is about brands truly needing to focus on moving with the culture, incorporates many sub-trends and themes.

Here are three Maturialism trend drivers: the slow but certain spread of a more liberal culture, the ‘anything goes’ culture of the online arena, and (of course) the ongoing shift in what constitutes status.

Full story at Trendwatching »