. . . and then when it does work, it becomes a brand.

An interesting post from Russell Davies a few weeks back got me thinking about the point when technology becomes a brand that is accepted as part of the consumer culture.
VOIP was just VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) until Skype came along. Video uploading, storage and free access is now defined by YouTube . MP3 is iPod. NASA satellite images are now a part of people´s lives thanks to Google Earth . B2C e-commerce, combined with the expanding broad band penetration, is now mainstream online shopping at Amazon.com. C2C is eBay.
There are still wide areas where branded efforts are really just products and services based on technology platforms: Podigy Infinitum is just wide band from Telmex, an Internet Access Provider. Prodigy might be "available to paid subscibers" at some places, but free Internet access at Starbucks is part of the open wi-fi (third space) consumer culture.