This Week in GAFAnomics #34
The new backbone of the Internet / Amazon as a Service / Google Maps becomes a platform
“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.
Google and Facebook are planning to build a series of ultra-fast internet cables between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. As video becomes the prominent source of content on the internet, the Facebook and Google need extra-bandwith. The Search and Social giants are building their own cables to rely own their own infrastructure. They are not only websites that engage billions of users everyday. They have become the backbone of the Internet.
Amazon has launched its new on-demand music streaming service. Amazon offers a reduction for Prime members ($7.99) and an even larger rebate for “Echo-only” subscription ($3.99)
Amazon is using its growing installed base of Echo devices to take on the music streaming market and catch on with Apple Music and Spotify. At the same time, Amazon continues its bundling strategy for Prime, aggressively turning Amazon customers into captive members.
Google will sunset photo-sharing site Panoramio as it focuses on building out features in Google Maps. By pushing user-generated content (photo uploads from users), Google is progressively transforming Maps into a platform where consumers can not only search for directions, but spend time to find content and information about local businesses. As location based searches are skyrocketing on mobile, Google intends to drive even more online traffic to retail stores.
That’s all for this week, but follow us for more news about GAFAnomics next week! In the meantime, you can check our new study about the 2nd Space Revolution.
