Can anyone topple Bloomberg and its market dominance?

Dan Weil of Institutional Investor wrote about whether competitors to Bloomberg can put a dent in its market dominance.

Weil writes, “Rather than start its own news division, which would represent a major expense, Money.net pays for the news of The Associated Press, MT Newswires, Fly on the Wall, and others. Last year the company hired Norman Pearlstine, vice chair of Time Inc. and a former top news executive at Bloomberg and Dow Jones, as its chief information architect.

“Money.net isn’t just marketing itself based on price. Ease of use is key, Downey says. ‘We don’t think you should need a university course to learn how to use the service like at Bloomberg.’ Bloomberg’s system was designed in the 1980s and hasn’t really changed, he says. ‘It’s a garbage heap of functionality that has been piled up.’

“Downey harbors a certain dismissiveness toward his former company. Its founder Michael Bloomberg ‘should just IPO and go home,’ he says.

“Money.net should be particularly attractive to younger users who have no historical attraction to Bloomberg and are put off by the difficulty of using it, Downey says. However, Taylor notes that younger finance workers will want to use the same tools as their more senior brethren. ‘I haven’t seen any evidence of a new generation of financial players that will drive the market’ away from Bloomberg, Taylor says. ‘If I’m paid for performance, I’ll want the tools that work best.'”

Read more here.