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Apple is special because it is the paragon of the tech. innovator. There is always some new big thing in technology, and while Apple may not remain king, there

by codex 14y ago

Apple is special because it is the paragon of the tech. innovator. There is always some new big thing in technology, and while Apple may not remain king, there will always be a company like Apple doing amazing things. Amazon, on the other hand, is in retail. Very little magic or innovation happens in this old business, though Amazon is doing its best to squeeze some from a stone. Their music business was successfully disrupted by the iPod and they're scrambling like hell to prevent disruption in other digital media. It is not a place of wonder, and Amazon will never make anything but a token profit due to the nature of retail and Bezos' desire to constantly reinvest in the future.

jseliger 14y ago
>Amazon, on the other hand, is in retail. Very little magic or innovation happens in this old business This isn't really true. Check out Emek Basker's famous paper "The Causes and Consequences of Wal-Mart's Growth" (econ.missouri.edu/working-papers/2006/wp0611_basker.pdf (and its citations)) and the work of other economists who estimate that WalMart, on its own may be responsible for an appreciable portion of U.S. productivity growth in the 90s and 2000s. One major problem India suffers from right now is entrenched incumbents who prevent modern retail practices from reaching most of the country. A lot of people there would love for American-style retail practices to spread.
- codex 14y ago
  I would draw a distinction between productivity and innovation. The source of Walmart's productivity gains was not innovation within Walmart, but advances in technology, from which Walmart was able to take advantage of more quickly than competitors. Just because retail gained in productivity and Walmart is the biggest retailer does not imply that Walmart is the source of innovation. I do give Walmart credit for their aggressive play, but the business of retail is still that of a middleman with a storefront, inventory management, customer service and thin margins. I applaud Amazon's efforts to prevent disruption with the Kindle and to move into the cloud. AWS is fairly innovative.
  - jseliger 14y ago
    >I would draw a distinction between productivity and innovation Again, check out the paper, the papers citing it, and the papers cited in its bibliography—based on that research, the distinction is fuzzy at best.
Riesling 14y ago
> Very little magic or innovation happens in this old business What about Amazon Web Services? Amazon was and still is a leader on the cloud computing front. > Bezos' desire to constantly reinvest in the future This is a huge advantage at least from an investor perspective.
lubujackson 14y ago
eBooks? Cloud computing? Amazon validated both of these in the past few years alone. Say what you will about their core business, but there's a lot of innovation at Amazon, more so in some ways than Apple.

by codex 14y ago

jseliger 14y ago

>Amazon, on the other hand, is in retail. Very little magic or innovation happens in this old business This isn't really true. Check out Emek Basker's famous paper "The Causes and Consequences of Wal-Mart's Growth" (econ.missouri.edu/working-papers/2006/wp0611_basker.pdf (and its citations)) and the work of other economists who estimate that WalMart, on its own may be responsible for an appreciable portion of U.S. productivity growth in the 90s and 2000s. One major problem India suffers from right now is entrenched incumbents who prevent modern retail practices from reaching most of the country. A lot of people there would love for American-style retail practices to spread.

codex 14y ago
I would draw a distinction between productivity and innovation. The source of Walmart's productivity gains was not innovation within Walmart, but advances in technology, from which Walmart was able to take advantage of more quickly than competitors. Just because retail gained in productivity and Walmart is the biggest retailer does not imply that Walmart is the source of innovation. I do give Walmart credit for their aggressive play, but the business of retail is still that of a middleman with a storefront, inventory management, customer service and thin margins. I applaud Amazon's efforts to prevent disruption with the Kindle and to move into the cloud. AWS is fairly innovative.
- jseliger 14y ago
  >I would draw a distinction between productivity and innovation Again, check out the paper, the papers citing it, and the papers cited in its bibliography—based on that research, the distinction is fuzzy at best.

Riesling 14y ago

> Very little magic or innovation happens in this old business What about Amazon Web Services? Amazon was and still is a leader on the cloud computing front. > Bezos' desire to constantly reinvest in the future This is a huge advantage at least from an investor perspective.

lubujackson 14y ago

eBooks? Cloud computing? Amazon validated both of these in the past few years alone. Say what you will about their core business, but there's a lot of innovation at Amazon, more so in some ways than Apple.