Amazon, Apple, Faceboöhnd Google FOR SEniNG THE INNOViTION AGENDB-BUT WHICH COMPANY REIGNS SUPREME? Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are transformational firms, deservedly obsessions of the business world. But if you had to pick, which one would you say is the most innovative—literally the most innovative company in the world? (And then who's No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4?) The four were featured on our cover last November ("The Great Tech Wars"). Since then, they have jostled for the No. 1 title—with Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet, Apple's Siri voice assistant, Facebook's Timeline inter- face, and Google's reinvention of YouTube as a niche-programming powerhouse. Yet each company has fallen victim to hubris, causing public-relations firestorms and some sloppy products. The top slot can go to only one, and we'll award it in a few pages. But why should we have all the fun? Flip the page and open the gatefold to find quizzes, games, and brainteasers that can help you rate the Fab Four—measured from their wildest new ideas to their cultural cachet. Then see if your opinion matches ours. If it doesn't, worry not. In a month or so, one of these firms will surely disrupt everything again. 72 FASTC0MPANY.COM MARCH 2012
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Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are transformational firms,deservedly obsessions of the business world. But if you had to pick,which one would you say is the most innovative—literally the mostinnovative company in the world? (And then who's No. 2, No. 3, and No.4?) The four were featured on our cover last November ("The Great TechWars"). Since then, they have jostled for the No. 1 title—with Amazon'sKindle Fire tablet, Apple's Siri voice assistant, Facebook's Timeline inter-face, and Google's reinvention of YouTube as a niche-programmingpowerhouse. Yet each company has fallen victim to hubris, causingpublic-relations firestorms and some sloppy products.
The top slot can go to only one, and we'll award it in a few pages. Butwhy should we have all the fun? Flip the page and open the gatefoldto find quizzes, games, and brainteasers that can help you rate the FabFour—measured from their wildest new ideas to their cultural cachet.Then see if your opinion matches ours. If it doesn't, worry not. In amonth or so, one of these firms will surely disrupt everything again.
72 FASTC0MPANY.COM MARCH 2012
our- POP QUIZ. HOTSHOT:-•FIRST, CONSiOER THEiR YEAR CONNECTiNG (OR NOT) WITH 00SI0MER8...
Kindle Fire sales!
GoogleAmazon >
FacebookApple
Steve Jobs dies:outpouringofbrand
love follows.: DebutsNong-fequested
white IPhone.
Debuts Sin andIPhone 4S.
Larry Pageannounced as CEO.
LaunchestashionslteMyHablt.
Hires Daytum'scotounders.vyhich It later credits withTimeline Inspiration.
: Accused bytheFTCof'untair
and deceptive"practices regarding
: user privacy.Raises $1.5 hllllon ;from Goldman Sachs.Really-fhoseguys?
Newspaper reports:terriblecondifionsfor
warehouse workers.Kindle Firecomplaints
Busted torhiring PR tirm to
smear Google.
A one-manshow in New York
draws nationalattention to Apple's
poor workingconditions in China.
Settles with JusticeDepartment tor
funning iiiegai drugads trom Canada.
Customers ottered$5togointostore,
scan item, then buyit online instead.
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUSt SEPTEMBER OCTDBER
.AND FIGHTING WITH 0 1 ANOTHERSEPTEMBER 2010:Apple launches
social network Ping,with Facebook inte-
gration. Next morning,Facebook blocksApple's access.
NOVEMBER DECEMBER
JULY 2010: Amazonintroduces Facebook
integration, tosee your friends'
interests within yourpersonal store.
APRIL 2011:Facebook begins
rolling out a couponservice, moving
in on Google Offersand LivingSocial(which Amazon
invested in).
JANUARY 2010: XApple buys mobile ad
agency Quattro Wireless,two months after Googlebeat Apple in a bidding
war for AdMob.DECEMBER 2010:Google launcheseBookstore. Pur-
chases work on mostreaders—but not
Kindle.AUGUST 2011:
Tech geeks noticedthe slow unveiling ofGoogle Drive, a cloud-
storage system torival iCloud.JULY 2011: Apple
kicks GoogleBooks off the App
Store. (It laterJULY 2011: Apple tells
Amazon to remove Kindle Storelink in Kindle iOS app, which
had circumvented Apple's 30%cut of in app purchases.
E FaBBEST OE TBE EOBB?ONHO'STUKINGIHE SIEVE lOBSIllK?Each quote is from Zuckerùerg, Page, Cook, Bezos-or Jobs1 "What we reallybuilt is a fully inte-grated media service."
2 "If you have ahealthy disregardfor the impossible,you actually getbetter people to workon your project. Youknow, they get reallyexcited, they workreally hard. You know,they work late atnight. And it alsoturns out that mostcompanies aren'tcrazy enough to doanything like that."
3 "We exist at theintersection of tech-nology and socialissues."
4 "As a company,one of our greatestcultural strengthsis accepting the factthat if you're goingto invent, you'regoing to disrupt.A lot of entrenchedinterests are notgoing to like it."
5 "Technology aloneis not enough. It'stechnology married
with liberal arts,married with the hu-manities that yields usthe result that makesour heart sing."
6 "We view it as ourrole in the system toconstantly be innovat-ing and be updatingwhat our system is toreflect what the cur-rent social norms are."
7 "We are stubbornon vision. We areflexible on details....We don't give up onthings easily."
8 "[Our company]should stand for abeauty, technologicalpurity of innovation,and things that areimportant to people."
9 "Our goal is notto build a platform;it's to be across allof them."
10 "It's up to us toconvince people tomaybe spend a littlemore for a materiallybetter experienceand product."
OWHO OSESTNEXOOKIESIPMIECTCODENMES?INSTRUCTIONS:Using deductive rea-soning based on theclues, write in an 0 tomark what's true and anX for what's false in thesquares on the grid. Eachcode name was used bya company for a productit developed—or, in onecase, is rumored to bedeveloping. Your goal:Match each companywith Its code name andproduct (nothing isused twice).
CI
^ APPLE
^ FACEBDDK
[ H DESKTOP DEVICE
9 MDBILE DEVICE
^M SDCIAL MEDIA
IJH TADirT
BÜFF
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AN
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EVIC
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AL M
EDIA
TABL
ET
1
CLUES:
1 The tablet, whichwasn't named CarlSagan or Taco Town,was made by eitherApple or Amazon.
2 The mobile devicewa5 named Buffy.
3 Google's social-media site, the projectnamed Carl Sagan,and Amazon's prod-uct were all launchedin different years.
4 Apple's projectcode name had morethan five letters.
ON H I H OfOUNGPRBEESSIONllSMOST HINTTONORKEOR? (Top eight U.S. companies, according
to a Universum survey of 6.700 workers)
WROSEPRRDÜCTSHIVE IREHIPPESIPLICEMENI?
CULTURAL CACHET
1. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGONTATTOO (U.S.):With the exception of a Sony product, LisbethSalander uses only for her madhacking skills.
: Google stuff she bought on Amazon, Apple computers
2. MODERN FAMILYPhil says that if the house were on fire and he hadto choose one thing to take, he would take"all of our family photos... which I keep on my
. So, my ."
.11 ¡Pad b) Android phone c) Kindle Fire
3. LOUIELouie says that students who do relief workabroad actually only want .
future bosses to see it in a Google search.j, better prices on stuff than they can find onAmazon ' > photos for Facebook
4. GOSSIP GIRLPrince Louis Grimaldi shows Blair a Gossip Girlblast about her paternity test on his
a) ¡Phone < ' • Android phone c) Facebook app
5. MEN OF A CERTAIN AGEAfter being out of the magazine world foryears, Melissa takes the only writing job shecan get: penning .
ads for Google reviews for Amazonterms of service for Facebook
6. HORRIBLE BOSSESJulia uses to blackmail a guy withraunchy photos,
n) a Google bomb Facebook c i an iPad
7. HALL PASSFred gets a call. He turns to his .and the camera closes in on it.
a) iPhone b) Android phone
8. NO STRINGS ATTACHEDPatrice and Eli are looking at their phones, andshe says she's ^ _ _ ^ _ ^ ^ ^ _ him right now.He's pretty happy about that.
Googling Facebookfriending ; j onAmazon buying a gij
CULTURAL WâSTELANDim
LOGIC PUZZLE BYSTFPHFN RYDER/PUZZIEBARON.COM
WHO MÜDE WHICH ACQUISITIONS?FOLLOW EACH TRAIL TO FIND OUT:
Apple
Amazon
Google
Facebook
MAZE BY CHRISTOPHER BERG/AMAZEINC ART
OIHIF ILEI
4-
INVENTION »1Print from anywhere
Send text into the cloudand it spits out at theprinter of your choosing.
INVENTION *2Mobile air bag
When you drop a phoneor tablet, an embedded airbag depioys to save it.
INVENTION'SShopping spy
Software traci<s whereyou go on the web at ailtimes, so targeted ads canreach you later.
INVENTIONSOn-the-go pop-up ads
Software i<nows what storeyou're in and pushes rele-vant sales to your phone.
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1 CAR AND DRIVERTELEVISION"Driven to Extremes. Engag-ing content brought to youby three iconic brands-Car and Driver, Road S Track,and Popuiar Mechanics."
2VROOM!"High-octane entertainment,putting you in the frontseat for some of the fastestraceways in the worid."
3 MOTORTREND"Car and car-cuiture enter-tainment and information,inciuding tests, drives,and lifestyie."
4 DRIVE"The channei for real drivers,reai buyers, and reai enthu-siasts. If it's got wheels,you've got an opinion and wewant to hear from YOU."
1 MODERNMOM"A iifestyie channei forevery mom committedto a healthy life f iiled withiove and iaughter. WithBrooke Burke."
2 CAFEMOM STUDIOS"A lifestyie networkfor today's moms, withpersonai stories, parent-ing advice, and news.Featuring Andrew Shueand Suzanne Somers."
3 THE MOM'S VIEW"Provide(s) aii moms aplace to go to find contentthey can relate to."
4 MOM KNOWS BEST"Ten moms. Ten differentbackgrounds. Lots andlots of iaughsl"
so MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES
IIFOB WALKINGTHETUK
.) ESPN analyst Trent Dilferhas a test to identify the alphaof the alphas among NFLquarterbacks: If four QBs arein the same car, who drives?In a mighty techmobile,Apple definitely has the keys—because where it goes, every-one follows. Siri may not havebeen introduced with a Jobs-ian public performance, butit dominated (and created)conversation ever since andprompted Amazon and Googleto snap up rival Siri technolo-gies. Think of it: They had tocompete in a space Apple justcreated. And in some places,the followers can barely keepup. The camera on the iPhone4S is so advanced that it alonewould have cost $500 just afew years ago; iPads dominatethe tablet market; Apple iswinning in greater China (12%of fiscal 2011 revenue, 400%better than the previousyear); and new CEO Tim Cookis reportedly bringing a morehumane leadership style. Untilsomeone outplays Apple, it'sthe starter.
nF0R800MI11I0NREISONSTOSHUE
-> Techies talk of Zuckerberg's• law, which states that everyyear, the amount of informa-tion people willingly sharewill double. It's rare for a singleperson—let alone someone soyoung, at age 27—to be cred-ited with shaping a fundamen-tal condition of our age. Butthe law isn't just a human urge;it's a response to Facebook'swidening, ever-inviting plat-form. This past year broughtmore sharing of music andnews, and a timeline of users'lives. More important are theleaked documents that indi-cate how lucrative all thatsharing is: Facebook may bemore profitable than Amazon,netting almost $1 billion off ofmore than $3 billion in reve-nue. Its success in displayadvertising will only intensifyits rivalry with Google. Weassign Facebook a few demer-its for its habit of overreachinginto users' privacy, apologiz-ing, and then only slightlyrolling back the offendingpolicy But then again, MarkZuckerberg knows we'll all justaccept it eventually.
nFOREXPINDINGITSHITIINEOP
'/f
-> Since returning to thebig office last spring, CEOLarry Page has created anexecutive brain trust—andnow they're transformingGoogle from a single productinto a diversified web power.YouTube's channel-centricmakeover reimagines cableTV in an unlimited bandwidthworld. Android helped part-ners sell more than 250 millionphones last year (earningGoogle an estimated $4 billionin mobile ad sales). Chromehas surpassed Firefox as thesecond-most-popular webbrowser (to Microsoft's), andGoogle- continues to be inte-grated deeply into all ofGoogle's products. Yet, there'scause for concern. The com-pany is beset by accusations-some of which it's had toacknowledge—of overzeal-ously favoring its own prod-ucts in its search results,moves that have attractedantitrust attention from Con-gress and the Justice Depart-ment. It begs the question;Can Google stop itself frombecoming Microsoft?
IIFORPUYINGTHEIGNGGñME
-^ Jeff Bezos's bald pate, trimphysique, signature cackle,and relatively rare publicappearances all work to buildmystique around Amazon'sfounder and CEO. Last year,his new initiatives—includingshort-read Kindle "Singles";Kindle Fire grabbing the No. 2tablet slot; the rapid expansionof Quidsi from diapers anddrugstore goods to pet sup-plies, toys, and groceries; andthe expansion of Amazon'sstreaming-video service toinclude CBS and Fox program-ming—burnished his vision-ary reputation. Bezos alsosuffered a few dings: KindleFire shipped with sluggishand buggy software; Amazon'spromotion of its Price Checkapp sparked a backlash; andits financiáis fell short ofexpectations. Unlike Apple,Amazon has yet to show it canprofit off both hardware andmedia sales. Amazon's deepermoves into tablets, bookpublishing, and streaming-media delivery are inspired.But right now, it's the leastalpha of the alphas.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY PETER OUMANSKMARCH 2012 FASTC0MPANY.COM 81
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