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Comment by tempsy | Hacker News Reader

I don't know why anyone reads Ben Evans - he's a sycophant for big tech who seems to lack the ability to objectively reason about monopoly power.

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Well, you clearly don't read anything I write - this piece ends by saying Apple's IAP model is unsustainable and needs to be dismantled, and my previous post said big tech companies are going to become as tightly regulated as banks.

I don't see it. I read it twice and tried searching for "unsustainable" and "dismantle". Could you point out where you said that exactly?

Presumably:

> This second one is instructive: the EU is taking the view that Apple has a monopoly of payment on the iPhone. Market definition is everything. I-am-not-a-lawyer, but I don’t see how Apple can win on Spotify (or Kindle), and I don’t think it should.

And the final sentence:

> Apple finally won the argument with users’ wallets, and that means it’s not niche anymore - Apple has become the navy, and different rules apply.

that doesn’t read “needs to be dismantled” at all

Can I put music on Spotify without them getting a cut?

Yes, you can import any mp3 that you want into your Spotify playlists.

Conversely, that's probably why a lot of software engineers do read him, because he reaffirms their beliefs that big tech is in the right.

i don't think the rank and file working for "big tech" are emotionally invested in whether their employer can stay a monopoly or not - if anything lack of competition among large employers means its easier to collude with each other to suppress compensation

This isn't even a hypothetical concern: https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-google-others-settle-anti-po...

Well, since a large part of the compensation is RSU’s why wouldn’t an employer of big tech want the monopoly to grow?

On the other hand if the company behind Candy Crush were complaining about not making enough on coins, no one would be taking their side.

given that the average tenure for a rank and file at a tech co is like 3 years, no i don’t think a significant number of them really think they want to see a tiny number of big tech cos maintain their monopoly so their RSUs go up 15% a year

Amazon’s stock doubled in a year.

yes so have a lot of tech stocks - i’m obviously talking about a normal year - not one where the Fed prints $3T in a few months and creates the first stock bubble to happen in a recession lol

Except profits re up for all the big tech as people buy computers for Zoom U, working from home, etc. Amazon got a huge cut of commerce generally because it’s delivered during shelter-in-place, and Netflix became the thing to do when everything else is canceled. In this environment, it’s clear that people are fleeing to safety and these are the only companies growing... plus they’re known brand names.

I don’t think it’s fair to say the Fed introducing liquidity is the reason why. You’d need to point to real data to back that up.

ok i don’t need to explain to anyone how the Fed flooding $3-4T into the economy went mostly to propping up asset prices.

Well First That is not what he said.

Second, over the years every time I sort of disagree with him on any issues I would later learn I was wrong. So the lesson is he knows a lot more than I do, and often well researched on the topic. It is better to sit down and think what he wrote rather than outright dismissive of it.

I do wish he could host some sort of AMA.

i read him, he's great! take it back ;)

the a16z cult is strong

or you’re all just afraid your boss is reading

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