What are the world’s biggest technology companies afraid of and how fear motivates them to grow
“Only paranoids survive,” is the title of a book by Intel co-founder Andrew Grove and a true prophecy for the largest and most famous technology companies — the so-called FAANG gang: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google. After all, one mistake can cost a giant more than a billion dollars, and competition, even for a monopolist, is a daily psychosis. So what are the big players afraid of and why are these fears proportional to the size of their ambitions?
Amazon
Obviously, the company should be afraid of antitrust decisions by the US Congress, but even they do not stop its intention to increase its influence. Amazon has recently made its way to another category of consumers: prescription drugs are now promised to be available on a two-day delivery schedule for members of the Amazon Prime service. Such entry into the new market could deprive the brands of American pharmacy chains, Walgreens and CVS, of more than $10 billion. On the contrary, it motivates us to “bite off” large pieces of new markets more confidently.
Apple
The company has a difficult relationship with game application developers. If the latter decide to revolt, it will lead to a loss of loyalty, both food companies and users themselves. That is why Apple is suppressing the uprising in all possible ways. For example, last year, more than 30,000 games were removed from the Chinese App Store in almost one night. Earlier, Apple warned developers of paid applications that late payment of the commission threatens to remove from the store. So the company is gradually removing thousands of applications that do not follow the updated policy and do not have a license for a paid application or are unable to pay their interest.
Netflix
There is no doubt that the pandemic has become a “klondike” for the streaming platform. However, the large influx of new users who have voluntarily stayed at home and purchased a Netflix subscription is forcing businesses to rethink and revise their pricing policies. Fearing losing and losing customers with weakened quarantine conditions, the platform and its competitor Hulu are going to make subscriptions more expensive, although they have not yet reached a final decision.
Fearing that free functionality will suffice for users of Google services, the company is updating its policy and reducing the number of documents and spreadsheets in the Workspace with the possibility of free use — up to 15 gigabytes of cloud storage. In addition, according to the update, which will take effect in 2021, the company will delete data from inactive accounts that have not been used for more than two years. Restrictions will take effect on data uploaded after June 1.
We can say that even technical giants have something to fear. Especially when the pandemic gave them a powerful impetus, they became even more afraid of losing their leadership. This fear of losing can increase ambition and make your move only forward. It is the constant desire to conquer new heights that makes a leader a leader, and those who are just on the path to their goals inspire and make the impossible more than real.
According to Medium.