If it's data, it will move over the Internet

Interesting analysis on why Wal-Mart decided to withdraw from the mail-order movie rental business. But if this decision is so obvious, why did they start this business in the first place?

"THAT doesn't mean that paper and discs have no future, but it's not a very bright one when it comes to transmitting news, information or entertainment. The day may come when not only DVD's by mail but traditional mail itself becomes obsolete. If some of us can make do with mobile phones, dispensing with land lines altogether, is it so far-fetched that some day people won't even bother to have mailboxes? Paper junk mail, ghettoized to a postal system that carries little else, may go the way of telegrams, leaving delivery services to focus on packages that require physical delivery. You can't download a shirt, after all. That day hasn't yet arrived, but maybe the folks at Wal-Mart know something that the rest of us only pretend to know: if it's data, it will move over the Internet. And maybe, just maybe, it's time to stop pretending otherwise."