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Is Apple (AAPL) Google's (GOOG) biggest rival? Or is it Microsoft (MSFT)? Or Facebook (FB)? You...

  • Thursday, June 28, 2012, 7:13 PM ET
    Is Apple (AAPL) Google's (GOOG) biggest rival? Or is it Microsoft (MSFT)? Or Facebook (FB)? You can make a case for any one after going over Om Malik's list of Google products and services that now compete with these companies, and/or with Amazon (AMZN), Twitter, and a variety of startups. The situation reminds Malik of imperial overstretch, and leads him to declare Google "lacks the star power to win on all fronts," given an intensely competitive market for tech talent. (more on GOOG)
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This news story has 6 comments:

  •  
    They are not even in the same businesses; they are not rivals.
    28 Jun 2012, 10:03 PM Reply Like
  •  
    (AAPL) 5 yr up 400% clear winner
    (GOOG) 5 yr sideways to down sold the top $720 2008

    The "PayBack" of Jobs from beyond the grave for
    stealing the Andoid platform from Apple. Just and fitting
    deserts for us.Mr Softy was the Apple of the 1990s
    just a mouldy oldy dino windows "has been" kids
    HATE (MSFT) will never see the 90s highs again.
    Great XBox though. Kudos to Google on YouTube acquire.
    29 Jun 2012, 06:09 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Microsoft is being bled to death by Google. Facebook is like Google's toddler brother, not really a threat in terms of engineering power. Apple is on a slow path towards becoming a bureaucracy like Microsoft.
    29 Jun 2012, 06:38 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Google and Microsoft are utilities, Apple is a tech company, Facebook is a fad, and Amazon is a retail and service company.

    I'd say this makes Microsoft its rival.
    29 Jun 2012, 08:39 AM Reply Like
  •  
    By your logic all retail and service companies are rivals, like EXXON and Microsoft are rivals. I'm lost somewhere in this logic. To be rivals in business you have to primarily compete in the same sector with the same primary products. Not just 1 overlapping product.

    We are discussing here 'rivals in life' in someone's imagination...so in rivals in life, Ellison and Gates are rivals. And their companies are rivals as to where to invest. But, their companies are not rivals.
    29 Jun 2012, 09:11 AM Reply Like
  •  
    You're taking a narrow view and missing the big picture.

    We are here discussing which company more precisely competes against Google's business model.

    Google is, in a broad sense, a utility, as its business model matches that of a utility, it provides basic services necessary for many people to simply conduct their day to day, much like Microsoft.

    Apple is more precisely a tech company as its appeal is in its hardware and innovation, and its competition is primarily via other hardware makers.

    Amazon dabbles in hardware/tech as means of driving traffic to its sales and services.

    P/E, valuation, revenue and growth will likely fall into those categories as well.

    Clearer?
    29 Jun 2012, 10:49 AM Reply Like
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