21 ms·

I don't really want to defend behaviors similar to Yelp's. Because it's indeed annoying. But let's play devil's advocate here. Part of the reason why Google ca

by nialv7 8y ago

I don't really want to defend behaviors similar to Yelp's. Because it's indeed annoying. But let's play devil's advocate here. Part of the reason why Google can have a clear and good user experience, is because they can afford it. On the other hand, for smaller company, not meeting user count goals could mean not getting funding and die. This will force them to nag the users to get them to install the app, even if doing that could annoy some of the users. And this is pretty much a classic example of why monopoly is bad.

tylerhou 8y ago
Monopolies are bad because more capital means that you can create a better product? If beating Google was as simple as needing more money to build a better product, then why couldn't startups just pitch that to investors and raise more funding? Probably because beating Google is harder than throwing money at a random startup's app. At that rate you might as well outlaw venture capital funds because they disadvantage people trying to bootstrap their own startup. There are certainly many reasons why monopolies are bad, but having capital is not one of them.
pm90 8y ago
> I don't really want to defend behaviors similar to Yelp's. Because it's indeed annoying. But let's play devil's advocate here. > Part of the reason why Google can have a clear and good user experience, is because they can afford it. On the other hand, for smaller company, not meeting user count goals could mean not getting funding and die. This will force them to nag the users to get them to install the app, even if doing that could annoy some of the users. They don't have to do that. They can use the same tracking resources that other online companies use to show increased usage. I'm not saying that I have a better solution. But their current solution is sub-optimal. Their website is crap, looks outdated. What are they even working on?
zjaffee 8y ago
The problem isn't that they can afford it, but the fact that they have essentially implemented a vendor lock in for the majority of their products, and have implemented vertical integration in a way that they can very easily expand through acquisitions and their own product listings. They have a monopoly on what people see when they want to find something, and can use that to point you to google properties, or should they expand into further ventures such as selling their own goods, move you away from other retailers.

by nialv7 8y ago

tylerhou 8y ago

Monopolies are bad because more capital means that you can create a better product? If beating Google was as simple as needing more money to build a better product, then why couldn't startups just pitch that to investors and raise more funding? Probably because beating Google is harder than throwing money at a random startup's app. At that rate you might as well outlaw venture capital funds because they disadvantage people trying to bootstrap their own startup. There are certainly many reasons why monopolies are bad, but having capital is not one of them.

pm90 8y ago

> I don't really want to defend behaviors similar to Yelp's. Because it's indeed annoying. But let's play devil's advocate here. > Part of the reason why Google can have a clear and good user experience, is because they can afford it. On the other hand, for smaller company, not meeting user count goals could mean not getting funding and die. This will force them to nag the users to get them to install the app, even if doing that could annoy some of the users. They don't have to do that. They can use the same tracking resources that other online companies use to show increased usage. I'm not saying that I have a better solution. But their current solution is sub-optimal. Their website is crap, looks outdated. What are they even working on?

zjaffee 8y ago

The problem isn't that they can afford it, but the fact that they have essentially implemented a vendor lock in for the majority of their products, and have implemented vertical integration in a way that they can very easily expand through acquisitions and their own product listings. They have a monopoly on what people see when they want to find something, and can use that to point you to google properties, or should they expand into further ventures such as selling their own goods, move you away from other retailers.