This Week in GAFAnomics #29
Amazon building up its own network / Siri gets smarter / Apple going political / Baidu invests in AI
“This week in GAFAnomics” features top articles from FABERNOVEL’s internal Slack discussions on the Network Economy. Subscribe to our “Inside GAFAnomics” publication for your weekly dose of curated news about the Network Economy.
Amazon is building its own logistics network because at peak times and for express delivery it can’t only rely on UPS and FedEx.
With Amazon Web Service, Amazon has history of creating an infrastructure for themselves and then start bringing customers from outside to fill the excess capacity, thus creating a business. For UPS and FedEx, Amazon’s been a great customer. It might become a great competitor. — Curated by Amelie Pauvert
With the hardware of the iPhone 7 unexciting at best, iOS 10 will be at the center of attention at Apple’s keynote on Wednesday.
A brand new Siri will be unveiled, finally able to control third-party applications like square cash, LinkedIn or Slack, among others. We will see if Apple’s AI can catch with Google’s.
Yet, even if the AI happens to be good, iPhone owners rarely use Siri and Apple might have a hard time reversing user behavior. — Curated by Elisa Jo Harkness
The European Commission ordered Apple Inc to pay Ireland unpaid taxes of up to 13 billion euros on Tuesday as it ruled the firm had received illegal state aid. In response, Tim Cook wrote an open letter to their European Customers explaining why Apple disagrees with the EU commission.
GAFA are not only reshaping our world with their technology and services. As they become as strong as nation states, they are more and more willing to enter the political space to defend their vision. — Curated by Clément Boxebeld Colonna
Baidu announced new AI and IoT initiatives, including an AI-powered speaker and a platform for driverless cars.
The Echo’s surprising success has prompted Google, Samsung, and Apple to try and develop competitors, and Baidu, too, is seeking to replicate the success Amazon has seen. Whenever a GAFA is investing in one technology, others feel compelled to follow suit. — Curated by Joachim Renaudin
That’s all for this week, but follow us for more news about GAFAnomics next week! In the meantime, you can check our study about Uber’s viral growth model.
