Chris Anderson, Chief Editor of the acclaimed Wired magazine, has done a terrific job of finding a single explanation to a cornucopia of seemingly disparate events in technology, business and society – what he calls the ‘Long Tail’. To mathematicians, the concept of Long Tail is nothing new. Put simply, it means that there is a finite but small demand for all kinds of obscure goods. Chris gives insight to the fact that the sum total of small demands from all these obscure goods ends up being a market of some significant size. Given the saturation in existing markets, firms are desperately trying to find new ones to maintain their growth rates. They don’t need to go very far. The Long Tail markets are there for the taking!
The book further explores reasons why Long Tail markets have suddenly become possible and important. The most prominent of these are-
• Development of cost-effective small scale production technologies that drive limited production runs, required for Long Tail products
• Availability of highly efficient search mechanisms that help potential customers sift through huge variety made available by Long Tail markets, without spending too much time and cost.
• Distribution methods such as the Internet for digital goods like iTunes music, and courier services like FedEx for physical goods that allow a convenient way to reach customers. Having established what Long Tail markets are, and

what it takes to set them up, Chris moves on to discuss some basic economic thoughts concerning these markets.There is some intelligent speculation on the issue of pricing. Clearly, a huge research opportunity is indicated here. As more and more business models exploiting the Long Tail markets evolve, we can expect to see novel ways of monetizing these opportunities. This is an area that Chris leaves open for deliberations. He also leaves to reader speculation, the areas from where the next contributions to Long Tail theory can be expected.
Some thought leaders have suggested that Long Tail markets support development of niche tastes that would take society away from common experience and lead to lack of cohesion. Chris argues that the celebration of diversity amongst us leads to a more open -minded and tolerant approach in the society. Which one of these argument will win out, remains to be seen.
The book concludes by laying down the rules for Long Tail businesses, giving several examples of enterprises that exploit the Long Tail model like Lego and Google. It also gives an outrageous hint at the future of Long Tail, one in which a customer will just download the design of a complex machine from an online firm and feed it into a three dimensional printer which then will “print” the machine out. Sounds like a page from a science fiction.? Who knows? After all this is a brave new world.