Why is the Bloomberg terminal so popular?

Robin Wigglesworth, the U.S. markets editor for the Financial Times, writes about the Bloomberg terminal and how many are addicted to its offerings.

Wigglesworth writes, “One of the company’s strategies has always been to amass every conceivable scrap of data or possible service onto the terminal. While Bloomberg runs a mammoth newswire to keep subscribers informed, the company has always allowed — even paid — for other news services to be streamed alongside its own (including the Financial Times).

“That way, users never have to leave the terminal’s digital embrace. ‘No matter how much you learn to do, you always feel that you’re just scratching the surface of what the terminal is capable of,’ Mr Russell says.

“To keep users hooked, an esoteric ecosystem has sprung up around the core data and news services, offering niche extras that bind the machine ever more tightly to the financial world.”

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