Don't Panic, But We've Passed Peak Apple (and Google, and Facebook)

waderoush writes "Over the last decade, just three companies — Google, Apple, and Facebook — have generated most of the new ideas and most of the business momentum in the world of computing. (Add in Amazon, if you're feeling generous.) But it's been a long time since any of these companies introduced anything indisputably new — and there are good reasons to think they never will again. This Xconomy essay argues that the innovation engines at Google, Apple, and Facebook are out of gas (the most surprising thing about OS X Mavericks is that it's not named after a cat) and that other players will have to come up with the underpinnings for the next big cycle of advances in computing. Granted, it's not as if any of these companies will disappear. But the idea that they'll go on generating ideas as groundbreaking as the ones that landed them in the spotlight defies common sense, statistics, and the lessons of history, which show that real innovation almost always comes from small companies. Apple, Google, and Facebook aren't too big to fail — but they may be too big to keep succeeding."

Comments

Business Map

[alphatel]

When all your in-house innovation leads to outhouse fabrication, you can easily switch gears. Buy everyone who innovates and shut out any possible competition. It's been the premier business road map for centuries.

Outhouse fabrication?

[mangu]

When all your in-house innovation leads to outhouse fabrication

How much innovation is needed to fabricate a tiny room?

Buy everyone who innovates and shut out any possible competition

In this case, I believe you mean shit out any possible competition.

Re:Google need to slow down

[c0lo]

Thankfully, if you Google for me, you come up with nothing.

Oh? About 3,410,000 results (0.19 seconds)

Re:Innovation only from Google, FB, Apple ??

[Half-pint HAL]

Are you suggesting that an average Joe wouldn't be able to set up their own massive server farm, crawl the entire internet for huge quantities of data and then serve the results to thousands of users per day? And do this for several years before starting to generate revenue? Are you suggesting this would bankrupt anyone not in a position of privilege to start with?