Jack Shafer, Slate’s editor at large, spins a fanciful tale of Google’s demise called “The Great Google Wipeout.”
While some elements of Shafer’s scenario are not too far outside the realm of possibility, it basically assumes that Google will do most everything wrong and that its competitors—including Rupert Murdoch, Amazon and Microsoft—will do most everything right to take advantage of the search giant’s missteps. It also assumes that regulators (in the U.S. and also in China) will turn against Google.
But, while it seems pretty unlikely and at times superficial in its analysis, Shafer’s piece is a fun read that does highlight some current and potential competitive dynamics and probably does include some words of caution that might be worth attending to by any at Google inclined toward excessive hubris.
And, as Shafer notes at the start of his tale, “It wasn’t like it had never happened before in the tech world.”
Mitch Shapiro at 3:23 PM|Comments(0)
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