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> To begin with, Google's main accomplishment is ads. Google's ad business doesn't exist in a vacuum. AdWords is a license to print money because Google search

by cletus 6y ago

> To begin with, Google's main accomplishment is ads. Google's ad business doesn't exist in a vacuum. AdWords is a license to print money because Google search is so good. Without Google Search, Google's ad business would be <10% of what it currently is. So how can you argue that's not an accomplishment? AdWords is about the only form of online advertising that I personally have no issue with. You have the intent of the user to find something and they've told you what they're looking for. As long as an ad is clearly marked as such, I have no issue with including ads in search results. It may be what the user is looking for. > When Amazon steps into a market, everyone is terrified. Like the other giants, there are things Amazon is good at and things they are not good at. Prime Video (which you mention) is no Netflix and honestly only exists because it was bundled with a service actually want (ie Prime free 2-day shipping). > They also have owned IMDB since forever, and it's quite cool that they've allowed it to remain a great resource for movie enthusiasts! IMDB, for me, has reached the point where I'll prefer Wikipedia if at all possible. Particularly on mobile, I tend to find it's a horrible experience. On mobile you have the extra step of "see full cast". Finding TV episode synopses and cast is always an exercise in "where have they hidden it this week". I'd say it's stagnated, if anything. I do respect the Amazon strategy of acquiring leading lead-generating sites (eg dpreview). That's not typically what Google does. More often than not, Google is acquiring the talent rather than the tech. It's a different strategy and not necessarily worse. > Amazon has its issues as well, That's an understatement. Amazon has a counterfeit product problem that I'm honestly shocked hasn't made them the target of some AG investigation yet. Dodgy sellers buy up product pages for a good product and replace it with something crappy, keeping all the reviews. Amazon also prefers their own products in a way that's arguably anticompetitive. Amazon provides logistical services that i've certainly read some horror stories about (eg look into the Louqe Ghost S1 US distribution through Amazon). Amazon's stranglehold on online selling is (IMHO) the best case out of any the tech giants for anticompetitive behaviour.

BeetleB 6y ago
> Google's ad business doesn't exist in a vacuum. AdWords is a license to print money because Google search is so good. Without Google Search, Google's ad business would be <10% of what it currently is. So how can you argue that's not an accomplishment? I don't disagree with you, but in a sense you are saying what I'm saying, with just words substituted. Yes, you could view their expertise in ads, or you could view their expertise in search. Either way: One trick pony. > AdWords is about the only form of online advertising that I personally have no issue with. You have the intent of the user to find something and they've told you what they're looking for. As long as an ad is clearly marked as such, I have no issue with including ads in search results. It may be what the user is looking for. Yes, but Google is involved in several other dark patterns (tracking users across sites, etc). > Prime Video (which you mention) is no Netflix and honestly only exists because it was bundled with a service actually want (ie Prime free 2-day shipping). I'm a big Netflix fan, but I noticed yesterday that it has been months since I watched something on it. I originally signed up for Netflix's streaming to get access to a lot of existing content (i.e. not produced by Netflix). I suspect today you'll get a lot more of that with Prime than with Netflix. At the moment, I'd hesitate to say that Amazon Prime is clearly better than Netflix, but I'm equally hesitant to say that of Netflix. Were I a new user with no prior knowledge, it's not at all clear to me that Netflix is better. It's certainly not apparent to me that Netflix will maintain their lead for long. And just as you complain about IMDB's redesigns, Netflix's constant experiments with their UI really annoys me. (Oh, and just a few days ago "My List" was empty in Netflix - not sure if they did that intentionally or it was a bug and they fixed it). (It's amusing you say that people don't really want Prime Video but want 2 day shipping - it's the opposite with me - but I can see I'm far from the norm). Yes, IMDB's constant redesigns are annoying, but if you have an account, you can adjust your settings to make the layout relatively stable. When I look up a movie, the site looks the same as it did 10-15 years ago. For me, that's a sign someone in Amazon actually cares. > That's an understatement. Amazon has a counterfeit product problem that I'm honestly shocked hasn't made them the target of some AG investigation yet. Dodgy sellers buy up product pages for a good product and replace it with something crappy, keeping all the reviews. Amazon also prefers their own products in a way that's arguably anticompetitive. Oh, I hate buying anything from Amazon.com. The web site sucks. The fake product and fake reviews issues sucks. I now almost always comparison shop and if the price is not too different I buy from elsewhere. When Amazon touts its "Customer obsession", it really annoys the heck out of me as the experience with Amazon.com is so poor for me. The point is they do dominate that sector, and they really earned that title. It didn't just happen because they were early or lucky. They work (and continue to work) aggressively to dominate it. How many ventures can you list that Amazon went into and completely floundered? Now do the same exercise with Google. Google often goes into a market with an "I have a neat idea I want to try out" mentality. Amazon goes into something with the intention of succeeding big. Their pivot to cloud was brilliant. The main reason I don't want to work for them is their poor vesting schedule and poor paid time off policies. (Oh, and on the side: Washington Post - it's a crappy newspaper. Not sure why Jeff was enamored with it).

by cletus 6y ago

BeetleB 6y ago

> Google's ad business doesn't exist in a vacuum. AdWords is a license to print money because Google search is so good. Without Google Search, Google's ad business would be <10% of what it currently is. So how can you argue that's not an accomplishment? I don't disagree with you, but in a sense you are saying what I'm saying, with just words substituted. Yes, you could view their expertise in ads, or you could view their expertise in search. Either way: One trick pony. > AdWords is about the only form of online advertising that I personally have no issue with. You have the intent of the user to find something and they've told you what they're looking for. As long as an ad is clearly marked as such, I have no issue with including ads in search results. It may be what the user is looking for. Yes, but Google is involved in several other dark patterns (tracking users across sites, etc). > Prime Video (which you mention) is no Netflix and honestly only exists because it was bundled with a service actually want (ie Prime free 2-day shipping). I'm a big Netflix fan, but I noticed yesterday that it has been months since I watched something on it. I originally signed up for Netflix's streaming to get access to a lot of existing content (i.e. not produced by Netflix). I suspect today you'll get a lot more of that with Prime than with Netflix. At the moment, I'd hesitate to say that Amazon Prime is clearly better than Netflix, but I'm equally hesitant to say that of Netflix. Were I a new user with no prior knowledge, it's not at all clear to me that Netflix is better. It's certainly not apparent to me that Netflix will maintain their lead for long. And just as you complain about IMDB's redesigns, Netflix's constant experiments with their UI really annoys me. (Oh, and just a few days ago "My List" was empty in Netflix - not sure if they did that intentionally or it was a bug and they fixed it). (It's amusing you say that people don't really want Prime Video but want 2 day shipping - it's the opposite with me - but I can see I'm far from the norm). Yes, IMDB's constant redesigns are annoying, but if you have an account, you can adjust your settings to make the layout relatively stable. When I look up a movie, the site looks the same as it did 10-15 years ago. For me, that's a sign someone in Amazon actually cares. > That's an understatement. Amazon has a counterfeit product problem that I'm honestly shocked hasn't made them the target of some AG investigation yet. Dodgy sellers buy up product pages for a good product and replace it with something crappy, keeping all the reviews. Amazon also prefers their own products in a way that's arguably anticompetitive. Oh, I hate buying anything from Amazon.com. The web site sucks. The fake product and fake reviews issues sucks. I now almost always comparison shop and if the price is not too different I buy from elsewhere. When Amazon touts its "Customer obsession", it really annoys the heck out of me as the experience with Amazon.com is so poor for me. The point is they do dominate that sector, and they really earned that title. It didn't just happen because they were early or lucky. They work (and continue to work) aggressively to dominate it. How many ventures can you list that Amazon went into and completely floundered? Now do the same exercise with Google. Google often goes into a market with an "I have a neat idea I want to try out" mentality. Amazon goes into something with the intention of succeeding big. Their pivot to cloud was brilliant. The main reason I don't want to work for them is their poor vesting schedule and poor paid time off policies. (Oh, and on the side: Washington Post - it's a crappy newspaper. Not sure why Jeff was enamored with it).