As a people we are not just ethnocentric we are chronocentric.  We actually think that technological disintermediation is a thing of our times.  Long distance being replaced by cell phones, etc.  Well think about this.

The Pony Express, an American Icon, a true Killer Brand in its time, was introduced in April of 1860.   It reduced the time of coast to coast communications from weeks to only 10 days.  (Think FEDEX here).  Pretty powerful stuff huh?

The Pony Express was disintermediated by the telegraph and went out of business in just 18 months, in October of 1861.   Pretty sobering.  Eighteen months.

Yet technology cannot replace the romance inherent in some brands.  More books, movies, and legends surround the 18 months of the Pony Express than all technologies combined.  It also reminds us prophetically that what is good for the brand is not always good for the business and vice versa.