Is Mark Zuckerburg the new Bill Gates? Will history repeat itself?
Rumor has it that the Zuck Dawg himself could be attending Apple’s Big event on Tuesday to finally roll out the much anticipated Facebook for Ipad via IOS 5. If this is true, I can’t help but think about history repeating itself. It’s as if we are watching a scene from Pirates of Silicon Valley and Mark Zuckerburg is playing the role of Bill Gates.
I’m sure Apple is feeling extremely confident with a 400 BILLION dollar market cap, almost double that of Microsoft today. After all we are in the age of the mobile application and Apple is not only the King of this space, they are practically a dictatorship–talk about big brother. Enter relative newcomer Mark Zuckerburg and his evolutionary new vision for Facebook. If I were Mark, I’d be playing nice with Apple as well, reminiscent of early Bill Gates. Before Apple realized it, Windows ran the world and Apple took a back seat.
I see the same forces here at work with Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google. We can learn a lot from history and what history says to me is that Apple’s stronghold will last only as long as they remain a dominant force in the phone and tablet marketplace. The need for mobile applications on mobile devices will one day be non-existent. The question is… how long before that day arrives?
What about the “Post-Mobile Application Era,” which is coming sooner than most think? What happens when you can create software that works as efficiently as a perfectly programmed application from the App-Store and all you need is a decent browser with internet connection? What happens when there is no application necessary? What happens when Facebook creates that interface and it works seamlessly on ANY device? What happens when Facebook integrates ALL media and enhanced media sharing tools and it’s available on ANY device you can imagine? When this day comes, it won’t matter if you have a $499 iPad or a $199 Amazon Fire!: your media-friendly, shareable Facebook account will be available and operable the SAME on all of them! That will be the day that Facebook doesn’t need Apple. They already don’t need Google and Amazon. Facebook’s new partnerships with Netflix, Spotify, and a host of other media giants have perfectly positioned them to be the new gatekeeper of all things media.
This will give Facebook a tremendous advantage. They won’t have hardware issues to deal with so they will be able to focus on one thing and one thing only: Becoming “The Social Media Platform” in the information age much like Windows became the one and only solution for all hardware manufacturers. I believe Facebook is best positioned to play that role in the near future.
So will history repeat itself? Only time will tell… Stay tuned for the big event on Tuesday!
Pirates of Silicon Valley is an amazing look at what went down between Bill Gates and Steve Jobbs. If you look at that movie and then watch the Social Network you will see some uncanny similarities between Gates and Zuckerburg. If this ends up being true, I believe we will see history repeat itself as it often does!
Hi, my name is Meredith Anderson and I’m a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I definitely see the resemblance between Pirates of Silicon Valley and The Social Network. Although, I do feel that the creation of Microsoft and Apple was a little more revolutionary than Facebook considering the timing. There were other social networks before Facebook. Facebook just happened to have more to offer. As far as Zuckerburg following in Gates creative footsteps and “wowing” the nation, I would have to agree. History always seems to repeat itself.
Hello, my name is Amelia Bumpers and I am an EDM310 student at the University of South Alabama. I see some similarities between Pirates of Silicon Valley and The Social Network. I also agree with Meredith about Facebook. MySpace and Yahoo Messenger were very popular before Facebook, but Facebook had much more to offer in one place than the two of them combined.
Its the visionary behind the company that is what will be the game changer. Steve Jobs was that visionary who revolutionized the way we live. He was never first to the market but he was always first to understand the market he could see where we were going before anyone else and he knew how to capture your imagination with quality products you didn’t even know you wanted. That is the same genius I see at play with Zuckerburg. He knows where the road leads and has a clear path toward the future!
Hello, my name is Bretta Wright. I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I think that Mark Zukerburg will be the new Bill Gates, but history will not repeat itself. Zuckerburg will bring technology to a whole new level that is affordable in my opinion. Zuckerburg is inspirational because he invites younger people to present their ideas to him, which allows him to see how younger generations think about technology. He uses the average man, as he once was, instead of using a bunch of board members.