“In late 2005, Salesforce was the first to launch a Long Tail software marketplace on its platform. Third-party developers could write a targeted niche application (focused on performance reviews or recruiting, for example) and it would run on Salesforce’s servers, integrating with Salesforce’s other software. The hope was that hundreds or even thousands of small developers would meet all the specialized needs of Sales-force’s customers, allowing Salesforce to concentrate on the more common needs. In other words, the tail would reinforce the head. By early 2006, there were more than two hundred applications selling on the marketplace, and Benioff confirms that the shape of the sales curves is just as predicted. “Even I was stunned,” he says. “It’s a perfect Long Tail. Textbook!”