In a relatively un-noticed post on the Windows Live Gallery blog last week, a new feature called Windows Live Collections was mentioned. Collections are pre-made Live.com pages with feeds and gadgets that you can add to your own Live.com homepage. Although the only collections currently available are celebrity pages and the standard Live.com pages such as the new Valentine's Day template, users will soon be able to share their own pages.
While letting users share pages is a great feature, no advertising on live.com means the corporate angle is equally as important. The Bacardi Instant Party gadget is one existing example and in time I suspect we'll see companies create full pages of content, using both RSS and gadgets. Any suggestions for full pages you'd consider using? (Some ideas I had were entertainment based - TV shows, movies, music artists....)
There's also the possibility of seeing more co-branded Live.com homepages. With Verizon already signed up, some of the other ISPs such as Qwest, who currently has an MSN co-branded homepage, might decide to follow suit. Then there are the ever-powerful PC manufacturers, with Google already providing a personalised homepage for Dell, although Dell has changed providers all the time [first MSN, then Excite]. For Live.com to really take off, Microsoft needs to partner with the likes of Lenovo or HP and ensure its place as default in the browser - afterall, this strategy worked for MSN.com. Interestingly enough, lenovo.live.com currently redirects to live.com.