Technology giants at war

http://www.economist.com/news/21567361-google-apple-facebook-and-amazon-are-each-others-throats-all-sorts-ways-another-game

by bergie • 14 years ago

48 21 14 years ago

economist.com

Tycho2• 14 years ago

It seems that journalists now talk about Microsoft as being a spent force simply because it's become boring to continually recognise their dominant position in the computing industry.

cek• 14 years ago

its actually absurd the author excludes MS.

I like using the analogy of potential energy to think about this 'battlefield'. Each of the big 5 (or 6 if you include Samsung) has a large amount of potential energy they may be able to use over time to grow, entrnech, and profit. In the case of Apple, Google, MS and Samsung the PE is primarily profit.

In the case of Facebook, it is primsrily the social graph. For Amazon, the potential energy seems to be scale & efficiency.

I, personally, believe profit, and the ability to continue to generate profit is a better form of potential energy because it is more controllable.

ChuckMcM• 14 years ago

Maybe they think of them like the UK after WW 1, a former world power that paid a terrible price in the previous war and is now somewhat hamstrung by that history.

The anti-trust action took a lot out them.

daniel-cussen• 14 years ago

They definitely used to have a startup culture, despite being big, not unlike Google now. A prolonged anti-trust dispute can wreck this because suddenly you get in big trouble for not doing things by the book.

rayiner• 14 years ago

By that token, you could also complain about the exclusion of IBM, Oracle, etc. These companies aren't really fighting it out for new territory the way Apple, Google, and Facebook are. They are big and relevant, but they're making money off existing fiefdoms.

Flemlord• 14 years ago

Except that IBM and Oracle are neither defending existing territory or actively trying to compete in mobile, search, games, etc. (and Microsoft is actively competing in all)

Tycho2• 14 years ago

Microsoft has the overall No.1[1] spot - it sells the OS and the software that virtually every office in the world (and most homes) rely upon. Nobody has come close to challenging that.

You can look at their other ventures - XBox, Bing, Zune, HD DVD, HotMail, SQL Server, IE, Windows Mobile/Phone and point out that they have not 'defeated' their rivals in these areas. But these are secondary or tertiary industries for Microsoft, where their main objective is to head-off any would-be challenges to their dominance of the PC market. Eg. consoles replacing the home PC, Google rendering it obsolete, Apple breaking into office sales.

[1] Yes Apple is the biggest company right now in financial terms, but Microsoft's turf is still the most desirable (though not quite as glamorous)

nswanberg• 14 years ago

This is an article about competition. How long has it been since Microsoft defeated a competitor?

Here is an explanation from a journalist on why Microsoft isn't included in this article: http://pandodaily.com/2012/11/30/the-squid-and-the-jellyfish...

And here is one from about five years ago from Paul Graham on seeing Microsoft as no longer relevant: http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html

It is fascinating to see how much Microsoft used to be feared: "'Can you name anybody that's happy about being in the same industry with Microsoft?' Mitchell Kapor asks." -- http://www.around.com/microsoft.html

Mythbusters• 14 years ago

It's odd that Microsoft's name does not come in the discussion that talks about technology giants. Google, Apple all are competing with Microsoft tooth and nail. Amazon and facebook maybe less so. Not mentioning it makes me question if its the bias or lack of knowledge on the part of the author.

fleitz• 14 years ago

It's a war on multiple fronts, Facebook and Google for the graph, Google vs. Apple and MS for phones, and Amazon vs. Apple on content.

In most of these wars MS is currently not mounting any serious challenges, however, due to cash on hand and it's relationships it could eventually start to make serious inroads. MS is in a much better position in 2012 than Apple was in 97.

Most importantly MS isn't lacking any technology that Google has, despite lower userbase in things like search, etc.

mturmon2• 14 years ago

Read the article -- MS is mentioned in what is probably appropriate context -- as a side issue to the great game currently underway.

Apocryphon• 14 years ago

What other ancient empires are still in play? IBM deals mostly in the realm of enterprise, eBay is still around as the master of its own specific market (with PayPal fighting back at the insurgent Square), and Oracle does- litigation and acquisitions?

rblion2• 14 years ago

World Web War III. Reminds me of Game of Thrones, "Winter is coming!"

psbp• 14 years ago

Did you not even bother to read the title of the article?

rblion2• 14 years ago

went straight to the map. oops.

bitcartel• 14 years ago

I like the illustrated map by David Parkins. Good for desktop wallpaper or printing out and framing.

Any other tech-related fantasy style maps out there?

bergie• 14 years ago

XKCD has done some http://xkcd.com/802/

signalsignal• 14 years ago

I'm a military veteran. I've been to war. What the article is written about is not a war. It is a competition between companies in a safe and opportunistic market, which is the furthest thing from warfare and destruction that I know.

mturmon2• 14 years ago

Relax. The analogy is more to storybook combat (Game of Thrones is the model) rather than real war. I found the extended analogy to be clever and fun.

jeremiep• 14 years ago

Not all wars are fought with guns and muscles, and very few are won that way. At the top levels, companies fighting each other looks almost identical to warfare.

shanelja• 14 years ago

Whilst I respect you as a veteran I feel that your comment did little to add to this discussion.

The entire article is filled with metaphor and simile all building up this vision of a Middle Earth-esque world with these companies fighting for territory amongst themselves. The author was not saying that they were at war, I don't see Google launching drones filled with napalm at Cupertino any time soon, he was implying that these companies are fighting for survival in difficult and competitive markets.

As far as metaphors go, it was a fantastic one, filled with great imagery and for the most part fairly informative content.

Technology giants at war

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