Aydin has a post discussing the fact that as soon as a business makes its mark as a success, there are immediately similar ventures that jump in to the arena.  He concludes:

Intensely competing for similar customers with undifferentiated revenue models doesn’t seem like a recipe for success.

Of course, there are exceptions.  When one looks at Bebo as a latecomer copycat trying to replicate what MySpace has pulled off, she has to remember MySpace jumped into Friendster’s model.  (Ironically, at least in the social networking world, there seems to be constant room for newcomers.  Case in point is Bebo, which has evolved into a success itself).  However, I do agree with Aydin’s premise.

For me, it’s also interesting to observe the localization of successful models – copycats in new markets.  Turkey has seen a few, and there are new ones entering the realm.  Izlesene.com is a recent entry into video sharing here, and while it’s still brand new, we get TrTube, a blatant YouTube copycat.  Is there room?