While it may be convenient to categorize the five usual suspects under the Big Tech label, ignoring the differences between them, pointed out in previous posts, could lead to simplistic conclusions. Take the word “big.” How big is “big?” The most common parameter used to measure is market capitalization, which is consistently in the trillions range…

Connecting to the Internet in 1994, the year Amazon was founded, was certainly not a walk in the park. For starters, the number of access providers could be easily counted. Accessing the emerging network of networks from home required a computer, a modem, an RS-232 compatible cable, supporting software, and an additional phone line, depending…

Out of the five usual suspects frequently fingered as Big Tech gang members, Microsoft (MS) takes the top spot, time-wise. Indeed, the company turned 50 last April, beating Apple by almost one full year. Many will associate such advanced age with dinosaurs, especially if we use Internet time as a benchmark. However, MS shows no…

In the early 1980s, when Apple was still an underdog facing stiff competition from larger and well-established tech companies, it masterfully used mass advertising to challenge their dominance. TV and paper news media were the only options available at the time. Perhaps Apple’s most famous ad was 1984, launched in 1983, announcing the upcoming Macintosh…

As the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) has acknowledged, Google operates in many markets, including operating systems, devices, email, browsers, broadcasting, cloud, mobile apps, advertising, and search. In some of these, like search engines and mobile operating systems provided for “free,” the company has disproportionate world market shares (90 and 73 percent, respectively), thus attracting…

Have you ever bought something from Google? Many will probably answer positively—maybe a tablet or a phone, or perhaps pay for a YouTube or Google One subscription. Back in the early 2000s, most would have responded negatively, though. At the time, the company was a synonym for powerful and mostly accurate web searches, and no…