Alibaba breaks itself up in six • Hacker News Board

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#21

Post by bioemerl » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:24 PM UTC

quonn wrote: post #14

maxwell wrote: post #7

Great move. This will increase local competition and wages, diversify ideas and design, and make shareholders more money than as a single entity. As with Standard Oil and AT&T. The U.S. should continue investigating splitting up Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.

How would you split Apple? How would you split Meta (would you start charging for WhatsApp)?

Apple into hardware and software.

Microsoft into OS and other software and cloud.

Amazon into cloud and web store(s).

Google into ads and web software that serves ads.

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#22

Post by duxup » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:25 PM UTC

endisneigh wrote: post #8

It's interesting to contrast China's approach of not allowing business to operate within the plane of power in which the government does, vs. the United States, which has companies whose power is certainly on the level of many state governments.

To me the complicating factor is “why”. I’m not sure why China as a government makes the calls it does.

It’s not clear to me that those aren’t just as self serving as say a big company in the us operating freely and so on.

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#23

Post by poszlem » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:26 PM UTC

endisneigh wrote: post #8

It's interesting to contrast China's approach of not allowing business to operate within the plane of power in which the government does, vs. the United States, which has companies whose power is certainly on the level of many state governments.

I came across a comment that resonated with me and seems relevant in this context, so I saved it. It says:

"The arc of communism is long and it leans towards oppressing the fuck out of people. It’s a tendency of all governmental systems. Communism rests most of its power in the hands of government without a moneyed elite to oppose them, so it tends to move to authoritarianism faster and with less resistance."

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#24

Post by robopsychology » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:26 PM UTC

soperj wrote: post #18

quonn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you split Apple? How would you split Meta (would you start charging for WhatsApp)?

WhatsApp used to charge, but really what they'd do is just charge facebook & whoever else for the data they're sharing.

Did they actually charge though? I remember hearing about that but it's been my sole method of messaging for years and I never remember setting up payments with them

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#25

Post by izacus » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:27 PM UTC

quonn wrote: post #14

maxwell wrote: post #7

Great move. This will increase local competition and wages, diversify ideas and design, and make shareholders more money than as a single entity. As with Standard Oil and AT&T. The U.S. should continue investigating splitting up Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.

How would you split Apple? How would you split Meta (would you start charging for WhatsApp)?

Apple Hardware, Apple Licensed OSes, Apple Online Services, Apple Financial Services (apple card & apple pay & co), Apple News Services, Apple Mapping Services.

Think of everything that Apple (Meta, Google) do, think on which components would benefit from having startups replace and distrupt them and then break them up on those seams while forcing them to allow competition between their fragments (e.g. iPhone with Android OS, iOS on Microsoft phone platform, MacBook M1 with ARM Windows, iOS iPhone with Google Pay, etc. etc.).

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#26

Post by ipaddr » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:27 PM UTC

wincy wrote: post #20

fumblebee wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: why was this downvoted? To me it seems totally reasonable that: > The U.S. should continue investigating splitting up Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.

I disagree, and think it would be harmful. I think we’d be better off splitting up the US government into smaller pieces but everyone loses their mind when I suggest it.

Like states or regions or cities? You are not the first to have this idea. It was a founding principle for the US

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#27

Post by quonn » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:28 PM UTC

bioemerl wrote: post #21

quonn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you split Apple? How would you split Meta (would you start charging for WhatsApp)?

Apple into hardware and software. Microsoft into OS and other software and cloud. Amazon into cloud and web store(s). Google into ads and web software that serves ads.

It doesn't make sense to split Apple into hardware and software since the integration and simplicity that comes from it is the very thing that makes Apple unique.

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#28

Post by devsda » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:29 PM UTC

duxup wrote: post #6

It’s always hard for me to understand the why when it comes to China’s government. “Investors cheer the move as signalling the end of China’s tech crackdown” If this is government action then why would this be the “end” of government involvement?

I guess the idea could be that with this the govt has chosen a company to set an example and with it the criteria for crackdown.

So, there's no uncertainity regarding who will be picked next and why.

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#29

Post by quonn » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:29 PM UTC

soperj wrote: post #18

quonn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you split Apple? How would you split Meta (would you start charging for WhatsApp)?

WhatsApp used to charge, but really what they'd do is just charge facebook & whoever else for the data they're sharing.

I think they charged 1 Euro when you bought the app. I doubt that covers the costs to keep it running.

Re: Alibaba breaks itself up in six

#30

Post by bufferoverflow » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 3:30 PM UTC

izacus wrote: post #25

quonn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you split Apple? How would you split Meta (would you start charging for WhatsApp)?

Apple Hardware, Apple Licensed OSes, Apple Online Services, Apple Financial Services (apple card & apple pay & co), Apple News Services, Apple Mapping Services. Think of everything that Apple (Meta, Google) do, think on which components would benefit from having startups replace and distrupt them and then break them up on those seams while forcing them to allow competition between their fragments (e.g. iPhone with An…

Which of them will own apple.com?

Which of them will own Apple trademark?

Which of them will own Apple logo?