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The battle of the giants is really beginning: Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Amazon will be trying to define the future of the internet and they will ha

by cateye 14y ago

The battle of the giants is really beginning: Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Amazon will be trying to define the future of the internet and they will have to attack each others core businesses to grow further. On several levels of the internet they all try to get a foot in: 1. Cloud: AWS, iCloud, Azure, Gdrive & App engine - Facebook hasn't got a storage or computation sollution 2. Social: Google+, Windows Live, Facebook - Amazon and Apple don't have real social networks 3. App stores: Apple app store, Play, Market Place, Amazon Appstore - Facebook doesn't have a real app store. 4. Operating system: OS X and iOS, Android, Windows - Facebook and Amazon don't have a OS yet. 5. Browser: Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, Amazon Silk - Facebook doesn't have a browser yet. I really think that all companies will battle each other on all the levels because loosing one level will cause the collapse of the others. So, Facebook definitely needs a browser.

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
1. iCloud runs on AWS and Azure IIRC, it's really just AWS, Azure and App Engine. Unless you're referring to consumer cloud. 2. Apple has ping, but that doesn't really count. 3. Facebook is launching an app store. 4. Amazon has its own version of Android it uses for Kindle Fire. Sure, it's based on Google's Android, but they ripped out the Google bits. 5. That's true, Facebook doesn't yet have its own browser.
philfreo 14y ago
You should also add in Media sale and consumption - music purchase and listening, etc.
- cateye 14y ago
  This is certainly not a inexhaustible list. Just some important areas. Media sales, advertising income, hardware design, integration with 3rd parties etc. are also major components.
drats 14y ago
Another point here is Amazon Silk caches/records a huge amount of your browsing, it's between the user and the web, and so does Opera Mobile (not opera desktop as far as I know). Facebook in this way will capture even more than they do through their ubiquitous "like" buttons which are constantly recording where everyone goes.
- tjoff 14y ago
  Opera Mini does. Not Opera Mobile (although you can opt in if you like in Opera Mobile and the Desktop version).
tjoff 14y ago
Amazon? You guys need to realize that practically noone outside of the US has any idea of what Amazon is.
- udp 14y ago
  I think I'd be hard pressed to find anyone here in the UK that doesn't know what Amazon is.
  - tjoff 14y ago
    Still, to compare amazon with apple, facebook, microsoft or google is ludicrous.
    - apawloski 14y ago
      I don't mean to keep picking on you, but this might be more persuasive to you: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=book+value+amazon+facebook http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=book+value+amazon+faceb...
      - tjoff 14y ago
        I don't see the relevance. Take dell: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=book+value+amazon+dell http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=book+value+amazon+dell If Dell were to be gone tomorrow, how would that affect you? Just barely, if you use Dell products you might switch to HP. End of story. If amazon goes away tomorrow (and assuming that people have had time to migrate to other services) that wouldn't affect people the slightest. Some users in the US would be mad that their kindles don't support DRM from any other source than amazon but that's pretty much it. Amazon, compared to the rest mentioned, does not play a part in "defining the future of the internet". They are just a service provider that can be replaced in a jiffy. Yes they probably have great services but they don't make or break things that define the internet. If apple, google, microsoft or facebook would disappear - that would make quite an impression. Of those facebook surely is the one most easily replaced but their current presence on the internet is huge and that is why they can have a hand in defining the future of the internet. Amazon and Dell can only hope that the companies that do shape the internet use their services/hardware - knowing full well that Facebook would run just fine on HP hardware.
jgroome 14y ago
> So, Facebook definitely needs a browser. Why?
- cateye 14y ago
  This is off course a legitimate question. I tried to really summarize it by saying: "loosing one level will cause the collapse of the others". The browser is for the end user an important base because that is where they get directed to surf and target ad spending etc. By inserting functionality like a start page or search engine, the behavior is influenced a lot. You can also push own services and products directly. The current status of the browser is also that it can replace the OS. (See Google Chrome OS)
- shrikant 14y ago
  Google made a browser so that Google products wouldn't be hindered by whatever the state of the browser market was. And Google was the Internet for lots of lay users. Now since Facebook is the Internet for lots of lay users, I suppose they might use the same driving logic?
mikeevans 14y ago
>Amazon doesn't have a social network I'd argue they have a good amount of social data through purchases. Just because it doesn't involve posting pictures of your cat doesn't mean they don't have it.
- apawloski 14y ago
  I wonder if this is even more valuable (in terms of predictive power) than facebook's data. After all, the latter tries to predict buying behavior through adjacent information, while the former is, well, buying behavior.

by cateye 14y ago

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago

1. iCloud runs on AWS and Azure IIRC, it's really just AWS, Azure and App Engine. Unless you're referring to consumer cloud. 2. Apple has ping, but that doesn't really count. 3. Facebook is launching an app store. 4. Amazon has its own version of Android it uses for Kindle Fire. Sure, it's based on Google's Android, but they ripped out the Google bits. 5. That's true, Facebook doesn't yet have its own browser.

philfreo 14y ago

You should also add in Media sale and consumption - music purchase and listening, etc.

cateye 14y ago
This is certainly not a inexhaustible list. Just some important areas. Media sales, advertising income, hardware design, integration with 3rd parties etc. are also major components.

drats 14y ago

Another point here is Amazon Silk caches/records a huge amount of your browsing, it's between the user and the web, and so does Opera Mobile (not opera desktop as far as I know). Facebook in this way will capture even more than they do through their ubiquitous "like" buttons which are constantly recording where everyone goes.

tjoff 14y ago
Opera Mini does. Not Opera Mobile (although you can opt in if you like in Opera Mobile and the Desktop version).

tjoff 14y ago

Amazon? You guys need to realize that practically noone outside of the US has any idea of what Amazon is.

udp 14y ago
I think I'd be hard pressed to find anyone here in the UK that doesn't know what Amazon is.
- tjoff 14y ago
  Still, to compare amazon with apple, facebook, microsoft or google is ludicrous.
  - apawloski 14y ago
    I don't mean to keep picking on you, but this might be more persuasive to you: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=book+value+amazon+facebook http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=book+value+amazon+faceb...
    - tjoff 14y ago
      I don't see the relevance. Take dell: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=book+value+amazon+dell http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=book+value+amazon+dell If Dell were to be gone tomorrow, how would that affect you? Just barely, if you use Dell products you might switch to HP. End of story. If amazon goes away tomorrow (and assuming that people have had time to migrate to other services) that wouldn't affect people the slightest. Some users in the US would be mad that their kindles don't support DRM from any other source than amazon but that's pretty much it. Amazon, compared to the rest mentioned, does not play a part in "defining the future of the internet". They are just a service provider that can be replaced in a jiffy. Yes they probably have great services but they don't make or break things that define the internet. If apple, google, microsoft or facebook would disappear - that would make quite an impression. Of those facebook surely is the one most easily replaced but their current presence on the internet is huge and that is why they can have a hand in defining the future of the internet. Amazon and Dell can only hope that the companies that do shape the internet use their services/hardware - knowing full well that Facebook would run just fine on HP hardware.

jgroome 14y ago

> So, Facebook definitely needs a browser. Why?

cateye 14y ago
This is off course a legitimate question. I tried to really summarize it by saying: "loosing one level will cause the collapse of the others". The browser is for the end user an important base because that is where they get directed to surf and target ad spending etc. By inserting functionality like a start page or search engine, the behavior is influenced a lot. You can also push own services and products directly. The current status of the browser is also that it can replace the OS. (See Google Chrome OS)
shrikant 14y ago
Google made a browser so that Google products wouldn't be hindered by whatever the state of the browser market was. And Google was the Internet for lots of lay users. Now since Facebook is the Internet for lots of lay users, I suppose they might use the same driving logic?

mikeevans 14y ago

>Amazon doesn't have a social network I'd argue they have a good amount of social data through purchases. Just because it doesn't involve posting pictures of your cat doesn't mean they don't have it.

apawloski 14y ago
I wonder if this is even more valuable (in terms of predictive power) than facebook's data. After all, the latter tries to predict buying behavior through adjacent information, while the former is, well, buying behavior.