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"Playing with toys" is a really dismissive way to describe the combined effort of 1000s of engineers and blue collar workers who innovated on a scale existing s
by kiba 5y ago
"Playing with toys" is a really dismissive way to describe the combined effort of 1000s of engineers and blue collar workers who innovated on a scale existing space companies haven't in decades to produce a service that will be utilized by millions in the near future for a fraction of the cost it once was.
On a competitive landscape, these companies are too late to the party with too little to show for it, and they are likely to be eclipsed by startups if they remain so slow in their progress.
It would be great if Bezo has a real rivalry with Elon, but sadly that is not the case.
- roenxi 5y agoYou may be in for a surprise. Starting late and being "slow" aren't actually the big predictors for failure. Particularly in the tech industry we should all remember Apple, who was persistently identified as slow, late and only making incremental improvements until the ungodly profits and overwhelming success of their strategy forced all the grumpy types to quiet down. And it turned out that as long as there are consistent incremental improvements "slow" is very hard to judge. In hindsight, Apple was moving very fast. Not saying any particular venture will succeed, but the qualifications for success aren't speed nor earliness. Success comes from clear communication, solving a problem and correctly identifying opportunity.
- kiba 5y agoBlue Origin has twenty years plus to make their case. SpaceX is slightly younger, but about the same age. If anything, Blue Origin had a head start. They squandered it.
- rich_sasha 5y agoWho knows, Tesla was “late” to the car building gig, electric car research has been going on already. Now they seem to be ahead.