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Peak Google, Apple and Facebook

xconomy.com

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Re: Peak Google, Apple and Facebook

#2

Post by jmduke »

I went into this article expecting to get mad, but it's actually quite reasonable: just like how incredibly rare it is that Microsoft releases something as capital-i important as Windows, the odds are against companies one-upping the innovations that vaulted them into success. That doesn't mean they're destined to failure or even to obscurity: but innovation favors the young.

(Somewhat ironically, I think Google has consistently shown the highest level of daring and innovation, as seen from things like Project Loon and the things that could totally restructure a first-world society, like self-driving cars or Google Glass -- and yet, they have the highest peak to climb, as I don't think any piece of technology [besides maybe Wikipedia] changed the world quite as much as search.)

Re: Peak Google, Apple and Facebook

#5

Post by l33tbro »

jmduke wrote: post #2

I went into this article expecting to get mad, but it's actually quite reasonable: just like how incredibly rare it is that Microsoft releases something as capital-i important as Windows, the odds are against companies one-upping the innovations that vaulted them into success. That doesn't mean they're destined to failure or even to obscurity: but innovation favors the young. (Somewhat ironically, I think Google has…

Same. Pretty decent. But it flogs its point a bit too hard. I find 'Peak' a bit of a 2004 buzz-word. I mean, the trinity the author speaks of are megalithic corps now on a downward trajectory. Agree with you that Google is the stayer. Page is streets ahead of Zuckerberg (Gates-lite) and Cook (a caretaker at best). The potency of Apple and FB will dissipate, but Brin and Page will remain fairly vitalic. One only has to look at the relatively Kurzweil hire to see that the Google spirit of old remains somewhat unfettered by the billions in loot.

Personally find the blogger's writing and ideas a bit second-rate, reaching out to the giants (Fukiyama, Moore) yet making no case for a reason not to "panic". As for his call for FB and Google employees to "exodus" and bring about change - seems rather mad and deluded. The shape-shifters are the hungry ones like Karp and Spiegel, not the Apple desk-jockeys and Facebook inner-circle.

Re: Peak Google, Apple and Facebook

#6

Post by Helianthus »

Foolishly wrong about Google. Aside from G+, Google continues to do crazy new things--even if one is skeptical of Glass, one can't deny it's interesting.

And something like Facebook, with its artificially inflated value, cannot expand to advertise to everyone; it can only crash when its optimism runs out. He gets it right: it's only a place for sharing photos and links. We don't need Facebook for that, and we'll figure that out pretty soon.

Re: Peak Google, Apple and Facebook

#8

Post by onedev »

Helianthus wrote: post #6

Foolishly wrong about Google. Aside from G+, Google continues to do crazy new things--even if one is skeptical of Glass, one can't deny it's interesting. And something like Facebook, with its artificially inflated value, cannot expand to advertise to everyone; it can only crash when its optimism runs out. He gets it right: it's only a place for sharing photos and links. We don't need Facebook for that, and we'll figu…

Saying Facebook is just a place for sharing photos and links is like saying Google.com is just a place for looking up links.

You can understate it as much as you want but at the end of the day Facebook connects PEOPLE. Technology, whether it be Google, Facebook, or Apple, is about people and it seems to me you haven't figured that out yet.

Re: Peak Google, Apple and Facebook

#9

Post by eliben » 

  "Just three companies—Google, Apple, and Facebook
   —generated most of the new ideas (at least the
   mainstream ones) and most of the business momentum.
  (If I had more room and time, I’d work Amazon into
  the argument, but as a technology company, it ranks
  well behind the other three.) "
I find this puzzling. What great new ideas have emerged from Facebook, exactly? It's just one of multiple very similar social networks that prevailed through better execution and marketing.

On the other hand, Amazon has built amazing cloud services - which is impressive, considering that it started as an online book shop. And placing Facebook in the same sentence with Google when mentioning innovation is nothing short of ludicrous.

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