[aseipp]

This is basically like saying "I don't see why someone couldn't just build a Youtube alternative. There's no barrier to entry, basically. You can just buy as many hard drives as you need if Youtube acts up!"

Except the twenty gazillion dollars you need to get started anyway, and the fifty ga-jillion dollar incumbent you're stacked against who already, again, has leveraged their death grip on the market -- which is presumably why you were becoming a competitor at all, right? To fight that?

[mikeash]

Why would you need twenty gazillion dollars? It's a business you can enter with a cell phone, a car, and a license. If you really want a smartphone app, you're looking at maybe six figures to build it and some pennies per active user per month to keep it running.

The comparison with YouTube doesn't work, because videos are not fungible. If there's a video you want to see, and that video is on YouTube, your choice is to use YouTube or not see it. If there's a place you want to go, you can use any transportation service that covers the area.

I'm having trouble thinking of a good comparison, because there aren't many markets that are this easy to enter. Maybe house cleaning would fit. If Homejoy had taken off, would there be any fear of it abusing a monopoly position, when anyone can trivially enter the market and compete on their level?