Chicken and egg problems: Successful product placement in highly competitive markets

Title originally "Strategy Letter II: Chicken and Egg Problems", paraphrased it to be a bit more descriptive. If that's not OK, feel free to edit the title(if that's possible).

I found this article because it was linked in the "So you want to compete with Steam" page originally linked in this comment by @calcifer.

The Strategy Letters are a highly interesting read, the site usually talks about software but most of these strategies apply to other markets as well. I also recommend reading the rest of the Strategy Letter series and the rest of the articles on the blog.

Edit: I should also mention these articles are really ancient, being from 2000. I think most strategies still apply, and it's an interesting insight into the history of many software products.