” Flickr and Zooomr are a threat to Getty” is just a perception of threat…. !!

Whats the Revenue take for Getty ? 773M /yr and that of Flickr and zoomr ?? Who has more purchasing power ??

Technology can be bought and sold.. the ones with the big pockets are where hawk eyes need to be trained onto and IMHO its JuipterIamges, whch has deep pockets too :)-

http://www.jupitermedia.com/corporate/releases/06.10.26-JI_CoverImagesAcquisition.html

I think you are right in how you look at the risks Getty Images faces from new disruptive market entrants like flickr etc. It is not a surprise to see Getty try to acquire an entry into the disruptive business model by buying iStockphoto.

The trend of disruption tends to follow a similar pattern across many industries, whether it is PCs vs large computer systems, iTunes vs CD sales or a free commuter newspapers vs established newspaper giants. Cramming some aspect of the new disruptive thing into the current business model is a common response. (Newspapers did this with their online strategy for most of the past five years. Doesn’t work.)

The very difficult challenge for Getty Images, or any other company in this position, is to balance these two conflicting corporate goals:
* Support the current business and its customers;
* Grow new business opportunities which potentially cannibalize the current business;

There is a method to do this, but it is certainly not easy.

Separate strategic business questions into three files
1)Revitalizing the current business;
2)Abandoning processes, products and services that customers no longer value or can’t earn their keep;
3)Creating new opportunities for the future.

Details on how this technique would apply in the newspaper industry are discussed in the link below. It would seem to apply to Getty’s business as well:

http://www.ondisruption.com/my_weblog/2006/10/fivews_for_fixi.html