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Maybe they'll try launching a Facebook phone that tries to capture Apple's market and it'll fail miserably again. Never underestimate the blue message bubble y
by omot 5y ago
Maybe they'll try launching a Facebook phone that tries to capture Apple's market and it'll fail miserably again.
Never underestimate the blue message bubble y'all. That's real leverage.
- ethbr0 5y agoApple has always understood that true power is architecting yourself the ability to substantially harm competitors... without your users noticing.
- omot 5y agoInvisible hand? Yeah maybe when you're early-stage Capitalism, in late-stage it's all about the invisible knife.
- WalterBright 5y agoThis is ironic considering that Apple displaced the former unstoppable phone monopoly. Never mind that Walmart displaced the former unstoppable Sears monopoly, and Amazon did the same to Walmart. IBM which people predicted was unstoppable, was going to rule the world. IBM's descent into irrelevance (I B What?) has been profound. The only interesting thing is people still insist that this time it's gonna be different.
- spankalee 5y agoWhich phone monopoly?
- paulryanrogers 5y agoWhat phone monopoly did Apple disrupt? Nokia? Symbian? Java mobile? Palm? Blackberry?
- WalterBright 5y agoAT&T
- ethbr0 5y agoWith the help of the FCC (1968 Carterphone) and US Justice (1974 US v ATT), no? If Apple (and IBM) had been banned from communicating through long distance lines, except with ATT's permission, then it's hard to see how Western Electric (aka ATT) wouldn't have taxed all the nascent PC companies and retained enough profits to remain larger. Edit: And on the later, iPhone side, that was the luck of power dynamics (single strong device manufacturer, bargaining against multiple competing cellular providers) coupled with phone company executive shortsightedness. If the cell phone industry has been less diverse (e.g. original ATT above), nobody would have felt the need to grant Apple any concessions.
- lokalfarm 5y agoDo you have more information about how Apple disrupted Ma Bell? It is also worth noting that the iPhone was originally released as an AT&T exclusive...
- ksec 5y ago>It is also worth noting that the iPhone was originally released as an AT&T exclusive The deal was done with Cingular ( Later acquired and merged with AT&T ). Neither AT&T and Verizon wants to deal with Apple at the time.
- acdha 5y agoThe phone carriers. They charged a fortune for data, restricted useful features on your phone (I remember one model which wouldn't play non-DRMed music because they wanted to boost their revenue), and things like mobile apps were held back by the way the carriers would look at your finances and decide how much to charge just for the privilege of being listed. When Qualcomm was getting started with BREW we looked into it for a few customers but even a modest business would get something like the _MINIMUM_ $50k listing fee for each carrier, adjusted up based on your perceived ability to pay, and they wanted more than 30% of the app pricing, too.
- skinnymuch 5y agoIt’s not helpful to say it’s inevitable if no timeline is given. If it won’t happen for 30 years, there is little point in talking about it right now. Though looking at history, when one of these tech giants do fall, a lot of people who were saying it would happen will act like prophets. Especially funny because the downfall of Facebook has been predicted for a decade now. Since Friendster and MySpace each did not last that long.
- WalterBright 5y agoWho has been proven wrong are all the pundits who proclaimed their monopolies were unstoppable. Other giant companies have fallen as well. RCA, Xerox, GE, Kodak, on and on. The reasons are well known. They become bureaucratic, wasteful and ossified, and become unable to adapt to a changing marketplace. I've seen this play out again and again and again in my lifetime.
- skinnymuch 5y agoWhich sort of pundits? You said "pundits...their monopolies". Are you referring to people with a vested interest in the companies/monopolies? If so, that makes sense. They have no reason not to say that, whether they believe it or not. Yes you're right. However on HN and similar tech/geek areas, the common theme regarding FB for a decade now has been direct or indirect implying of its coming demise. Which was what I was saying in my comment. Those people are not correct. It is being said in this thread and other recent threads too. If FB is still a $5-600B+ company in 2025, then these recent comments are also not correct. Which is to say, it's hard to imagine FB dropping lower than the ~11th biggest US company and ~15th biggest worldwide[0] company at a $600B market cap in 2025. A valuation they did not cross until May 2020. [0] Right now they are 8th in the US and world. Top 5 for earnings. Usually 5th-6th.
- WalterBright 5y agoI've been online on tech groups for 40 years. It's always the same thing - the current crop of tech companies are unstoppable monopolies.
- chaostheory 5y agoThey're going the wearable route starting with Oculus which is the main reason they missed Wall Street's short term expectations. AR in the form of glasses is their end goal, with Apple trying to cut them off by next year at the latest. imo Apple will help Meta by helping make XR more socially acceptable, along with Apple's premium pricing which locks some people out. I do not believe VR's current form factor is socially acceptable right now. Even if you remove problems such as cost, tech complexity, and even the toxicity surrounding Facebook's brand; the masses still will not accept it until Apple ships their solution.
- max49 5y ago>Never underestimate the blue message bubble y'all. That's real leverage. Only in north America. Like it or not, there is faaarrrrrr more future money to be made with the 3B ish people of china+india than the 0.4B americans.