Medium Article critiquing Ben Thompson blog [[Stratechery]]
Noticed that recently he has moved to the field of tech antitrust
Believes that the lack of credentials is misleading his readers
Relies to much on an idiosyncratic "digital markets are fundamentally different"
Inducing his readers to drink too much of his "aggregation theory" kool-aid
United States v. Google
Thompson presents [[Aggregation Theory]] to understand this case
Aggregation theory is what idealized competition would look like from the POV of antitrust and net neutrality advocates
But it is not what the reality looks like
It is true that many online markets by working this way
However, this doesn't mean a company can't, or doesn't, gain advantage for itself in many other ways too
Nor is this consistent with companies that start out like this but over time turns to other old school techniques to solidify its market position
Google relied on a physical scale advantage in its server infrastructure
Facebook relied on old-fashioned network effects
Thompson also takes a highly anti-empirical approach to switching costs
The cost of leaving Google/Amazon/Facebook are close to zero
But they are not, leaving behind Gmail, wishlists, friends are part of the retention powers these companies have
Thompson implies that the aggregation theory is the real key to understanding online markets and that the winners are there because of aggregation, and not these other advantages and strategies
However, he did speculate that Google is in a duopoly collusion with Apple
Here is the disconnect, if Thompson agrees collusion over distribution is important, then the rules of competition have not changed for the 21st century. However he seems to also suggestion aggregation theory is the key revolution for these online companies
Last problem with aggregation theory is that it seems to suggest winner take all
Implies there is "one" single best user experience
It seems to only work when consumers have identical preferences or they want the greatest number of suppliers
Or when consumer value convenience even over what they would say their stated preferences are -> [[tyranny of convenience]]
Ben Thompson replied to this critique in this article
Defends his take that internet have made transaction costs zero
Reiterates that he did not label Amazon as an aggregator
Google is an aggregator because it doesn't
Retrospective::
One week ago: [[October 27th, 2020]]
One mdonth ago: [[October 3rd, 2020]]
One quarter ago: [[August 3rd, 2020]]
One year ago: [[November 3rd, 2019]]
Daily Stoic::
This is a hard concept for me to accept, that external events are just nature’s version of doctor’s orders. Marcus Aurelius describes nature brining disease or misfortune is just nature’s way of aiding in your destiny, akin to a doctor prescribing treatments to aid your health.
I have a hard time accepting this stoic wisdom because I don’t believe in that there is a plan in the first place. Not that I see it as a negative, more so I can’t see it as a positive