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But in real life examples, the exact opposite has been playing out. Instead of you being sold to the richest, hungriest gas station, it's more like all of the

by gretch 6y ago

But in real life examples, the exact opposite has been playing out. Instead of you being sold to the richest, hungriest gas station, it's more like all of the gas stations racing to the lowest price to serve you, and consumers having no brand relationships with gas stations anymore. If Android auto was always serving up expensive gas, users would start using bing or apple maps - I certainly would if there was such a tangible cost difference

taneq 6y ago
How many people would do so, though? How many non-technical people are capable of untangling themselves from Google’s services? How many non-technical people are even aware that “Google” isn’t the only search engine?
- oarsinsync 6y ago
  I learnt about Waze many years ago from non technical folks. Drivers have niche communities of their own too, where stuff like this gets disseminated. “Waze is better than google maps for directions” for a long time was true. Then google bought it. If Waze can rise up, so can another. Especially where it’ll save drivers some % on their fuel bills. Even more so in European countries with high fuel duties.
  - Xelbair 6y ago
    >[..]Then google bought it.[..] And that will happen to every competitor on that market.
- krageon 6y ago
  For non-technical people I would say it is much easier. Use another service that offers email, calendar and contacts (Germany is full of them) - done. For storage it's a little more complicated. Other than that, what do regular people use? Search? I've seen just as many use bing or what have you.
grawprog 6y ago
That's not the situation in the town where i live. There's less tax here compared to the city, gas prices should be lower, instead, every gas station in town is priced higher and all keep the same high price. Years ago, the grocery stores here did the same thing. It's taken 15 years for them to finally begin to actually compete with each other...well just prior to covid anyway...
- viraptor 6y ago
  This is pretty standard due to transport + location costs, isn't it? Gas is close to cheapest in city suburbs.

by gretch 6y ago

taneq 6y ago

How many people would do so, though? How many non-technical people are capable of untangling themselves from Google’s services? How many non-technical people are even aware that “Google” isn’t the only search engine?

oarsinsync 6y ago
I learnt about Waze many years ago from non technical folks. Drivers have niche communities of their own too, where stuff like this gets disseminated. “Waze is better than google maps for directions” for a long time was true. Then google bought it. If Waze can rise up, so can another. Especially where it’ll save drivers some % on their fuel bills. Even more so in European countries with high fuel duties.
- Xelbair 6y ago
  >[..]Then google bought it.[..] And that will happen to every competitor on that market.
krageon 6y ago
For non-technical people I would say it is much easier. Use another service that offers email, calendar and contacts (Germany is full of them) - done. For storage it's a little more complicated. Other than that, what do regular people use? Search? I've seen just as many use bing or what have you.

grawprog 6y ago

That's not the situation in the town where i live. There's less tax here compared to the city, gas prices should be lower, instead, every gas station in town is priced higher and all keep the same high price. Years ago, the grocery stores here did the same thing. It's taken 15 years for them to finally begin to actually compete with each other...well just prior to covid anyway...

viraptor 6y ago
This is pretty standard due to transport + location costs, isn't it? Gas is close to cheapest in city suburbs.