The New Gang of Four
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 12:28AM Omar Morales 
Yesterday at the D9 Conference outside Los Angeles Google's former CEO and now executive Chairman Eric Schmidt claimed that there is a new gang of four.
Four company that are the driving force in the tech world. In the '90s IBM, Microsoft, Cisco & Dell were that gang. But according to Schmidt that's not the case anymore.
The new gang of four is compromised of Google, Apple, Amazon & Facebook.
Schmidt noted that this are the four companies driving growth and innovation. And while they compete in many areas they are also partners in others.
Schmidt also make the point that Microsoft while holding strength in the enterprises was not a force in the consumer market.
So I decided to see how much I relay in the gang. And this is what I found out.
In the last seven days I have used products and services from all four. Here is how much.
Amazon:
In the last seven day I made 5 purchased on Amazon.com and spent a total of $146.89. Four of the five purchases were for physical goods and one was a digital purchase (mp3 album). Amazon is my first go to place when looking to purchase anything. And 90% of my online and about 50% of all my purchases are on Amazon.
Apple:
In the last seven days I have used many Apple products here is a semi accurate list.
- an iPhone used every single day.
- Two iPods one classic in my car and a Nano on the living room home theater.
- An iPad mostly for data consumption but also for data creation I will say a 70/30 split.
- Apple TV and iTunes: I uses an Apple TV almost daily I also use iTunes to make purchases.
- MacBook Pro & iMac: While the iPhone and iPad get a lot of attention my MacBook Pro still the workhorse for my data production. My iMac while not as important as before stills get used in a semi-daily basis.
- and finally my Airport Extreme that obviously see a 24/7 use to power my wireless network.
- And many Apple software specially Mail, Safari & iMovie
Google:
Google like Apple see a lot of attention on my part. I have used all this Google services in the last seven days.
- Gmail
- Google Reader
- Youtube
- Search & and have clicked in some paid ads as well.
- Google Maps: Desktop and Mobile
- Picasa
- Adsense: To serve ads in this site.
- Android: Yes I use a Droid X to test Android apps for reviews.
- Google News
- Gtalk
- Chrome: I use it as my default browser now. And while I still use Safari daily 70% of the time I use Chrome.
- Google Calendars
- Google Sync
Facebook:
This one is simple. I log in to Facebook Daily.
So it seems Schmidt have it right at least with me. The new gang of four gets a lot of attention specially Apple & Google.
And while I thought I dint use any Microsoft product I remembered that I used Excel a couple days ago. Still the best game in town for spreadsheets.
In my opinion Schmidt have it right and this are the four companies making our life's easier. I personally like all of them.
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