Tech companies no longer "friends"

[Hydrogen]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Events such as these have occurred for awhile now.

Microsoft quietly dumps Windows OpenGL support

Nov 29 1999

https://www.theregister.com/1999/11/29/ms_quietly_dumps_windows_opengl/

...

Apple Disables Flash for OS X Over Security Concerns

Sep 11th, 2013

https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple-disables-flash-for-os-x-over-security-concerns

...

A motive behind these aggressive measures may sometimes be identified.

Microsoft owns and runs Direct X which is a direct competitor to OpenGL. Which was their motive for dumping OpenGL support.

Apple owned internet video and audio codecs which were competitors to adobe flash. Which could explain their motivation for dumping flash support.

It may be too early to identify apple's motive for these moves. Perhaps in the days to come things will become clearer.

[el kaka22]

The reality is that we have reached to a level where we are doing much better thanks to competition, the world is nowhere near where we are in the past but we are definitely not anywhere impossible neither. These huge tech companies have done whatever they want without any interruption and made money from our data as well, they really have been doing worse and worse, so right now at this point we are looking at something else because people hate those big ones.

It means competition is wide open, they can come in an swoop to take their place. Look at how tiktok created a huge buzz all around the world, why was it so successful? Because, it is obvious that people were bored of the evil methods others made money, not like tiktok is any different but they still liked it anyway, which is why I believe we are doing not that well, but not doing that bad neither for new startups to arise.

[Dragonfund]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

Apple is the number tech company which such a myopic sentiment of an average person. They think because they are unique means they are overvalue.
Sometimes, when I look at their products and the users, I pity them because I wonder if in the next 10 years, an iphone will be competing with price of an average car.
To the main topic, in business, there is better option when you fail, this is what you should expect and blockchain too, I think most of the tech companies see great potential in blockchain but at the same time they are afraid that they can not longer controls users data and information.
They sell this information and data as revenue, so I doubt if they would want something decentralized.

[AndySt]

It means competition is wide open, they can come in an swoop to take their place. Look at how tiktok created a huge buzz all around the world, why was it so successful? Because, it is obvious that people were bored of the evil methods others made money, not like tiktok is any different but they still liked it anyway, which is why I believe we are doing not that well, but not doing that bad neither for new startups to arise.

It's just that when technology companies become too big, they become more clumsy and less receptive to new things, and the same applies to other areas of the economy. Of course, everything is not hopeless and some new stars still necessarily appear in the business, but in the conditions of monopolization, this happens not because of the novelty or effectiveness of a young player, but because of an oversight of the giants. Therefore, I believe that something should be done, but with a miscalculation of the consequences for the functioning of the economy.

[Ucy]

The article talks about making IDFA opt-in for users. So you can choose for an app to track you and your usage. The scourge of "personalized targeted advertisement" is doing a lot of damage to us as individuals and overall as society. Facebook and Google have become the main benefactors and perpetrators of this trend.

If Apple actually follows this in spirit, I may actually invest to buy an Apple phone rather than letting all of these companies turn us into entertained, consumerist zombies. While this has little relevance to blockchain, this must be made mandatory for all smart devices.

One of my main concerns with the typical Personalized Targeted Advertisement is how it can be abused by companies/people who wish to track & understand large numbers of people in detail without necessarily breaking the law.
I will probably allow things like that if they are decentralized, if nothing else apart from the owner knows/understands his own interest/activities, should be safe, not accessible to people without my permission, it should anonymity-friendly/privacy-friendly, etc....

[adzino]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

You mean they should start making their own crypto currencies or coins? Well they can, but do we need them? We may if they provide better use cases. But one thing, they starting to develop their own crypto currencies will help spread more knowledge about the "existence" of current coins like Bitcoin and ETH among general people. People are curious. Once they see that Apple and Google are looking at making their own crypto currencies, naturally (at least most of the people) will try to learn more about crypto currencies. This way, they will get to know about bitcoin and other well known currencies.
So yeah, they should start competing and aggressively promote blockchain techonology.

[StartupAnalyst]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

You mean they should start making their own crypto currencies or coins? Well they can, but do we need them? We may if they provide better use cases. But one thing, they starting to develop their own crypto currencies will help spread more knowledge about the "existence" of current coins like Bitcoin and ETH among general people. People are curious. Once they see that Apple and Google are looking at making their own crypto currencies, naturally (at least most of the people) will try to learn more about crypto currencies. This way, they will get to know about bitcoin and other well known currencies.
So yeah, they should start competing and aggressively promote blockchain techonology.

I remember Telegram had their own token Gram and even set up some ICO project to gather money to create Telegram Open Network Blockchain. But as far as I know everything ends up with a big drop (lots of investors lost their money). So maybe it's really easier for social networks to use currently existing cryptocoins either to create their own blockchain.

[Renampun]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

in the next few years, they will be left behind if they do not take advantage of blockchain technology...
Blockchain technology can not only be implemented in cryptocurrencies but can also be applied in many ways and it will help a company. Blockchain is the newest technology and they have to try it, make it sound like a company keeping up with the changing times.

[Fredomago]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

in the next few years, they will be left behind if they do not take advantage of blockchain technology...
Blockchain technology can not only be implemented in cryptocurrencies but can also be applied in many ways and it will help a company. Blockchain is the newest technology and they have to try it, make it sound like a company keeping up with the changing times.

They will adopt this as demands will push them to do so. Incoming years more and more business will step inside and use the system, those known companies that being mentioned will have no other options but to accept.
Moving forward, for now existing coins are good enough if those known businesses will start to use crypto for thier payment transactions,
unless they'll venture deeper like what FB intend to do with Libra.

[paxmao]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Events such as these have occurred for awhile now.

Microsoft quietly dumps Windows OpenGL support

Nov 29 1999

https://www.theregister.com/1999/11/29/ms_quietly_dumps_windows_opengl/

...

Apple Disables Flash for OS X Over Security Concerns

Sep 11th, 2013

https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple-disables-flash-for-os-x-over-security-concerns

...

A motive behind these aggressive measures may sometimes be identified.

Microsoft owns and runs Direct X which is a direct competitor to OpenGL. Which was their motive for dumping OpenGL support.

Apple owned internet video and audio codecs which were competitors to adobe flash. Which could explain their motivation for dumping flash support.

It may be too early to identify apple's motive for these moves. Perhaps in the days to come things will become clearer.

On a similar topic, there are always discussion why Apple does not use it's platform to build a search engine to compete with Google. Some think that Apple clients actually do want google to be their default engine, some people argue that Google is technologically dominant. My take is that for now, there is enough open market to grow for all the giants, but when that shrinks it may be open war.

[mu_enrico]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google)

I like this abbreviation

About the OP title, I don't think they were our friends. They get our wallet, time, and personal data. Truly a shitty friend.

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

They are too late. Many companies, including IBM, Alibaba, nChain, etc., already have lots of patents. They (FAANG) should explore and do more research if they want to be relevant in the future.

[uneng]

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

No, because their crypto currencies would be centralized ones. They couldn't compete with bitcoin, ethereum and so many other decentralized altcoins.
Libra (now called Diem) is a good example of how this competition isn't going to happen. It will be a stable coin like many others which already exist and are even more trustful in my opinion, moreover investors are looking for speculative crypto currencies which they can make profit by holding and trading. It's not the case of these big corporations' crypto currencies.

Actually if I wanted to associate myself to any of these corporations you mentioned I would buy their stocks rather than their crypto currencies.

[paxmao]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

You mean they should start making their own crypto currencies or coins? ...

Once they see that Apple and Google are looking at making their own crypto currencies, naturally (at least most of the people) will try to learn more about crypto currencies. ...

Yes, that would be a way forward. With your own chain you are all the sudden a bank and a transfer system. Just imagine the economic energy of Apple or Facebook customer base captured by "Applecoin". All the sudden you have millions adopting the coin and Appel grows into a immense Fintech that might someday be larger than the current company.
 
Is just like starting a bank, but you already have millions of clients from day 0, some of them unable to access the traditional banking system and all linked to a platform that is known for growing virally.

[Quidat]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

Sooner or later they would really be possibly be on that way where these companies will really consider on competing in the blockchain world but lets not expect for those things for now
because they do all have the control on what they should gonna do since these are big companies where capable on doing things on what they do have in mind.When it comes to competition
they dont really care about friends or connections because this is a market on where only the fittest will survive and this is where changes and innovation would really be needed
no matter whey do came from and what form would it be.

[Twentyonepaylots]

Since they are starting to hoard cryptocurrencies and bitcoins as their backup asset, I believe the war between these companies have already begun. Facebook is on the lead with them pioneering Libra, and if the timing is right, they can literally win this war on their own, since we all know here in the cryptocurrency industry, whoever goes in first wins.

[AndySt]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.
Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

Sooner or later they would really be possibly be on that way where these companies will really consider on competing in the blockchain world but lets not expect for those things for now
because they do all have the control on what they should gonna do since these are big companies where capable on doing things on what they do have in mind.When it comes to competition
they dont really care about friends or connections because this is a market on where only the fittest will survive and this is where changes and innovation would really be needed
no matter whey do came from and what form would it be.

Competition is the engine of progress, and high-tech companies by their status seem to be obliged to be progressive, and because of the magic power of competition, and even at the forefront of progress. However, in a very large number of cases, this is expressed in the giant buying a small competitor with giblets, which on the one hand makes the company "more progressive", and on the other hand removes another source of potential competition from the market The topic of corporate cryptocurrencies is slowly beginning to capture the minds of their management, but you need to understand that government regulators are not asleep and can regard this as an option for corporations to escape from the restrictions and controls that are inevitable in the case of loans and the issue of shares.

[amishmanish]

-snip--

There is no telling what percentage of those numbers are actually just bots and useless bought-and-sold accounts. There are already plenty of them and they will continue to increase.
With algorithms giving targeted advertisements and content to people, these social media companies are killing the very reason that they exist, as a platform for human interactions. They are becoming these soul-less stages with repetitive, addictive content that is a net negative in the lives of anyone who uses these platforms. As more and more people realize the harmful effects, their market will, hopefully, keep shrinking.
There are no easy solutions. What is clear is that these platform are doing a big disservice to humanity by zombifying our thought processes. If you are not inherently creative, it is really difficult to net get lost and waste hours of time and mind-share on watching all the stupidity circulating in the name of user generated content.

[Kittygalore]

Since they are starting to hoard cryptocurrencies and bitcoins as their backup asset, I believe the war between these companies have already begun. Facebook is on the lead with them pioneering Libra, and if the timing is right, they can literally win this war on their own, since we all know here in the cryptocurrency industry, whoever goes in first wins.

The moment that they were built is the moment they become rivals in the industry, you will not survive the tech industry if you consider other companies as a friend just saying. If Libra can be successful in their launch then I can just safely assume that Facebook will be ahead of its competition.

[wxa7115]

The article talks about making IDFA opt-in for users. So you can choose for an app to track you and your usage. The scourge of "personalized targeted advertisement" is doing a lot of damage to us as individuals and overall as society. Facebook and Google have become the main benefactors and perpetrators of this trend.

If Apple actually follows this in spirit, I may actually invest to buy an Apple phone rather than letting all of these companies turn us into entertained, consumerist zombies. While this has little relevance to blockchain, this must be made mandatory for all smart devices.

One of my main concerns with the typical Personalized Targeted Advertisement is how it can be abused by companies/people who wish to track & understand large numbers of people in detail without necessarily breaking the law.
I will probably allow things like that if they are decentralized, if nothing else apart from the owner knows/understands his own interest/activities, should be safe, not accessible to people without my permission, it should anonymity-friendly/privacy-friendly, etc....

This is the main problem with that data, it is bad enough that they track everything you do online to try to give you targeted advertisement, but the issue is that they can extrapolate a lot of things about you thanks to that.

There are some very impressive algorithms out there that allow companies to do that which is why Facebook and Google are always looking for more data to mine as the more data they have the more precise the predictions of their algorithms, I like the fact that Apple is now asking their customers and offering them the chance to opt-out of such an aggressive tracking.

[magneto]

The "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) are now near a monopolistic position in their core areas and they are using it to make extra profits. But the are winds of war, e.g. Apple disallowing segmentation for Facebook and Google or charging in in-app purchases to third parties.

Apart from Facebooks try with Libra, is there anyway they could start competing on the blockchain world? My take is that they should.

Expect governments to fight back and reclaim some of the profits.

Australia has led the way in terms of having a media bargaining code to mandate FB and Google to pay for the content they host on their site. Other governments will follow suit most likely.

FAANG will fight back for sure, but at the end of the day they'll reach a state of compromise at the very least. Perfect competition is out of the question though, we are too deep into their monopolies for that to occur.