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I was thinking yesterday that, in this aspect, Google is very much like General Motors during the decline years of the '70s and '80s. General Motors also had a

I was thinking yesterday that, in this aspect, Google is very much like General Motors during the decline years of the '70s and '80s. General Motors also had a similar habit where they'd bring out a new model (which would of course have issues). Then, they'd devote an enormous amount of time and money iterating on the model. And finally, just as the model started to show signs of market success they'd cancel it, and go back step 1. Meanwhile, their competition from Japan was steadily iterating and perfecting a stable lineup of vehicles Sometimes I think that the only reason Google has maintained its level of success is that there is no Toyota or Honda equivalent for GM-Google.

tehlike 7y ago
There are multiple. Fb is one, slack and zoom is eating into enterprise communications etc... Plenty of competition where google couldn't take off. Disclaimer: former google employee
- dx034 7y ago
  But Google still dominates Ad Space and Search (which is connected). And they still dominate search, growth rates for competitors don't really seem meaningful compared to Google's market volume. And unless governments step in, search market share will secure their dominance on the ads market. So unless someone manages to offer a superior (not just comparable) search experience, Google will continue to thrive despite all other products.
  - tehlike 7y ago
    True, search is google's moat. However, most people now go to amazon.com to find out what they want to buy. I still use G for comparison purposes, but it is becoming less and less. On the consumer side, user's time is now going into all sorts of apps from IG, FB, SNAP, Twitter, Games etc... The only thing that google has some handle on is Games through play store and display network. I guess play store is another big money maker for google. Google has a really good product line up - don't get me wrong, i love photos, docs, gmail, search, android, hangouts. But we seemed to have been missing something there with widespread adoption and monetization. Disclaimer: Former Google, current FB employee.
    - quanticle 7y ago
      > However, most people now go to amazon.com to find out what they want to buy. Maybe by frequency of purchase, but probably not by value. When I was car shopping, I used Google quite a bit to look up dealerships, reviews, etc. Did I use Amazon? Not even once. When I was looking at vacation destinations (prior to COVID cancelling all travel plans) likewise, I was using Google, not Amazon. Same with researching my last laptop purchase (which I ended up buying directly from Lenovo). I use Amazon a lot, but I would guess that measured by dollar value, my off Amazon purchases are much greater than my Amazon purchases. Measured by number of purchases, of course, I've made many more transactions on Amazon than I have off of it.
      - tehlike 7y ago
        you are likely correct. i use google flights, i would search on google for a car. but fb is coming up with marketplace, ig has shopping related stuff, so i am not sure who the winner will be. It may end up with two companies sharing the market.
  - techsin101 7y ago
    Not true. Search doesn't matter if people aren't there. I search on Amazon for stuff. I search on reddit for questions I have. I search on FB marketplace if I wanna get something 2nd hand. I post on FB group specific to topic. I use slack or discord to ask questions from live experts. So yes they dominate the search, but "search" isn't what it could have been. I always thought how would someone ever defeat current giants. And while I heard the phrase I didn't get it, the next Facebook won't look like Facebook. Giants simply become irrelevant they are not defeated just forgotten.
threw4234324 7y ago
The reference to Japan also brought up memories of Sony's brilliant play in the (admittedly declining) Camera market - starting off as a joke, then acquiring Minolta (not exactly a prestigious brand) and now being bigger than Canon and Nikon. In contrast, Pentax, which once ruled the Camera market (not to speak of Kodak..), is not even acknowledged by Ricoh today. Tony Northrup's vlog on this is very interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVW18cGdfUU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVW18cGdfUU
thombat 7y ago
From the outside, around 2000, I used to marvel at Nokia's ability to deliver. Then after starting work there and seeing "how the sausage is made" I switched to marvelling at the implication that all of their competitors must somehow do it even worse...

tehlike 7y ago

There are multiple. Fb is one, slack and zoom is eating into enterprise communications etc... Plenty of competition where google couldn't take off. Disclaimer: former google employee

dx034 7y ago
But Google still dominates Ad Space and Search (which is connected). And they still dominate search, growth rates for competitors don't really seem meaningful compared to Google's market volume. And unless governments step in, search market share will secure their dominance on the ads market. So unless someone manages to offer a superior (not just comparable) search experience, Google will continue to thrive despite all other products.
- tehlike 7y ago
  True, search is google's moat. However, most people now go to amazon.com to find out what they want to buy. I still use G for comparison purposes, but it is becoming less and less. On the consumer side, user's time is now going into all sorts of apps from IG, FB, SNAP, Twitter, Games etc... The only thing that google has some handle on is Games through play store and display network. I guess play store is another big money maker for google. Google has a really good product line up - don't get me wrong, i love photos, docs, gmail, search, android, hangouts. But we seemed to have been missing something there with widespread adoption and monetization. Disclaimer: Former Google, current FB employee.
  - quanticle 7y ago
    > However, most people now go to amazon.com to find out what they want to buy. Maybe by frequency of purchase, but probably not by value. When I was car shopping, I used Google quite a bit to look up dealerships, reviews, etc. Did I use Amazon? Not even once. When I was looking at vacation destinations (prior to COVID cancelling all travel plans) likewise, I was using Google, not Amazon. Same with researching my last laptop purchase (which I ended up buying directly from Lenovo). I use Amazon a lot, but I would guess that measured by dollar value, my off Amazon purchases are much greater than my Amazon purchases. Measured by number of purchases, of course, I've made many more transactions on Amazon than I have off of it.
    - tehlike 7y ago
      you are likely correct. i use google flights, i would search on google for a car. but fb is coming up with marketplace, ig has shopping related stuff, so i am not sure who the winner will be. It may end up with two companies sharing the market.
- techsin101 7y ago
  Not true. Search doesn't matter if people aren't there. I search on Amazon for stuff. I search on reddit for questions I have. I search on FB marketplace if I wanna get something 2nd hand. I post on FB group specific to topic. I use slack or discord to ask questions from live experts. So yes they dominate the search, but "search" isn't what it could have been. I always thought how would someone ever defeat current giants. And while I heard the phrase I didn't get it, the next Facebook won't look like Facebook. Giants simply become irrelevant they are not defeated just forgotten.

threw4234324 7y ago

The reference to Japan also brought up memories of Sony's brilliant play in the (admittedly declining) Camera market - starting off as a joke, then acquiring Minolta (not exactly a prestigious brand) and now being bigger than Canon and Nikon. In contrast, Pentax, which once ruled the Camera market (not to speak of Kodak..), is not even acknowledged by Ricoh today. Tony Northrup's vlog on this is very interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVW18cGdfUU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVW18cGdfUU

thombat 7y ago

From the outside, around 2000, I used to marvel at Nokia's ability to deliver. Then after starting work there and seeing "how the sausage is made" I switched to marvelling at the implication that all of their competitors must somehow do it even worse...