Lately, some people have been blaming the new giants, like Facebook, for killing innovation. Some stories, like this one in the Washington Post, say Facebook’s practice of rapidly copying rival app’s features creates a disincentive for investors and companies to develop new features Facebook might copy.
If we dug around, I think we could find similar stories about any dominant players in their industries at any time. Eventually, most big companies’ attempts to innovate by whatever means necessary fail, and they develop blind spots for the potential of new markets and how to serve them. (Silicon Valley has a gigantic blind spot for the women’s market!)
