Winners, Losers, and Microsoft By: Stan J. Liebowitz and Stephen E. Margolis Presentation By: Dylan Swaebe

Summary  Talks about the business and economics side of the technological world  Battles between rival firms  Copyright laws, marketing strategies, actual quality of products  Published in 1999  Companies include Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and RCA  Products include type writers, VHS tapes, word processors, and office suites

Networked World  “A particular type of network effect occurs in as technology develops. As more firms or households use a technology, there is a greater pool of knowledge for users to draw upon.”  Establishment of standards

Theory of Lock-In  Keyboards  Microsoft

Serial Monopoly  Industry is in constant monopoly, but not always dominated by the same company or product  Smartphones  Promotes Innovation  “In a world of strong network effects, all competition is monopolization, though perhaps short-lived monopolization.”

VHS Tapes  Sony had prior partnership with RCA and they shared patents  Had a product similar to VHS called Betamax  Ended partnership  Sony was first to the market

Microsoft  Computer market was dominated by Apple  Developed Microsoft Windows  Allowed PC’s to run as many applications as you wanted at once  Office suites