I think this article fails to understand a fundamental trend that has been going on from 2000 to 2010 and wasn't going on in 1998. Increased market penetration of web based devices. Having a business in 1999, when the potential population of internet users is roughly 1/10th what it is now, when you do not have such a large population of non-tech people using very sophisticated devices and the web constantly. Of course, even in such a favorable environment, it is possible to have a bubble, however the numbers even they themselves use are both statistically insignificant and not telling the whole story.