Steve Jobs

I was reading the other day how there are rumours that Steve Jobs might sell off Pixar to Disney in exchange for a seat on the board of directors. He would hypothetically use his leverage there to, among other things, release more Disney content onto the iTunes Store. This would be rather significant, considering that Disney owns ABC and about a gazillion other things. It is one of the largest companies in the world.

Regardless if these rumours are true or not, the idea itself raises some serious questions about vertical integration in the computer world, as well as conflict of interests within the business community at large.

Is it ethical or reasonable that one man controls so much? This isn't just about Steve Jobs, but it's what I stumbled upon most recently. We can look at Google as another new-ish example. Google has been buying companies left and right and offering their products under a single banner. They have also been picking off well-known engineers left and right. There is all types of information coming out now that Google wants to move into other media areas such as television, and we all know that there have been rumours for a while now that they might design their own web browser or operating system, however unlikely that might be. What is very probable, however, is that Google will want to compete with Microsoft in this emerging world of online operating systems.

Microsoft is currently in the beta stages of Windows Live, which will be a type of customizable online portal for news, mail, and there's even the possibility of remote access to applications like Office. They have made very clear that they believe this is the direction in which the web will move in the future, and have been trying to do so ever since they integrated Internet Explorer with the Windows shell years ago. They have intermittently released all types of operating system concepts which are more server-based than anything, and in which all your data is stored remotely so that you can access your virtual home from any computer in the world.

As Google is slowly gathering up new companies, designing new online services and technologies, it is increasingly clear that they have stakes in almost every area related to computing. Personally, I see the main problem with their offerings to be in the area of integration. How many Google products are you aware of? Not too many, probably, and yet there are many areas where they are active. To me, at least, the next step is clear. Google will want to compete in this type of area and are definetly in a position to be the leaders in this. If they play their cards right, it could be big.

Getting back to Steve Jobs, and the central question I was asking, should we really accept this type of behaviour and is it desirable in the business world? By integrating companies vertically in this manner, we are restricting market competition. This is the Wal-Mart model applied to technologies. Compared to retail stores, computing is still in its infancy as a consumer medium. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that so much of what we see and do with computers will end up being controlled by large giants who just seek to grow more and more. Is this what we want to see in the web? Is this how those who designed the web imagined it?