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Honestly using Amazon is like tip toeing around a lion to get something valuable. Knowing that at any moment they could wake up and and absolutely swallow you w
by lbacaj 8y ago
Honestly using Amazon is like tip toeing around a lion to get something valuable. Knowing that at any moment they could wake up and and absolutely swallow you whole.
If you use their cloud products, ala Netflix, they may decide to compete with you any moment. Netflix may have been too far along to be beat but the next product won’t be. If you sell products on their market place and if they do well you run the risk of them copying you. If you do anything in their ecosystem you are living with the fear that the lion may wake up and swallow you whole at any point and time.
Edit: Maybe I’m a bit paranoid but this feels like a great way for them to get to know exactly who your customers are and what their behavior is. All the while training their own personalization to get much better.
- crb002 8y agoThey also like to buy shares in smaller companies or outright acquire them. Not always competition.
- walterbell 8y agoCandidate for business school case study, what factors influenced Amazon decisions to invest/acquire vs clone?
- davidjnelson 8y agoRight, like with the YC startup Scaphold turning into aws appsync: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelparis1/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelparis1/
- dominotw 8y agosorry if this is a stupid question, why would amazon only copy things hosted/using aws?
- foepys 8y agoAWS can see traffic and usage. They can predict the "next big thing". Facebook allegedly did the same with their VPN services that analyzed what apps people were using on their phones.
- bordercases 8y agoNot that I disbelieve you, but it would be interesting to see a source for that claim.
- hobofan 8y agoThe Wikipedia article about Onavo[0] has multiple articles linked about it. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo
- mcqueenjordan 8y agoThere's probably no way for me to convince you otherwise, but I'll say it anyway: This isn't how the world works.
- hobofan 8y agoGathering intelligence and moving into their partners/supply chains territory is literally the DNA of Amazon. I know of no other company that does it as verociously as Amazon, who went after every partner that helped them grow (fulfilment, delivery, third party sellers, manufacturers). And the example of Facebook with Onavo is also not plucked out of thin air[0]. Sure, it's not how all of the world works but for the big players, it's a important tool in their toolbox. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo
- cowb0yl0gic 8y ago"verociously": a portmanteau of "ferociously" and "voraciously". ;)
- hobofan 8y agoWhoops! I'll stand by it :D
- foepys 8y agoIndustrial espionage is a real thing, if you believe it or not.
- eeZah7Ux 8y ago> Edit: Maybe I’m a bit paranoid but this feels like a great way for them to get to know exactly who your customers are and what their behavior is. You are not paranoid. That's exactly the business model of the retail website when hosting independent merchants. The lion waits until you finished eating dinner...