Up until web 2.0 and the smart phone revolution it was mostly hardware, and mostly business. What changed was once the majority of the consumer market and atte

Up until web 2.0 and the smart phone revolution it was mostly hardware, and mostly business. What changed was once the majority of the consumer market and attention span was tapped via ubiquitous web and mobile penetration which opened up the possibility for software companies to extract maximum value from every single consumer. Consider this: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-history-of-the-largest-companies-by-market-cap-1999-today/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-history-of-the-lar... In 1999 (dotcom peak!) there were 5 companies in the top 10 (1 software, 4 hardware). In 2019 it was 7 out of 10, including the top 5 spots.