[mark_integerdsv]

Something that I took away from this (awesome blog post) is perhaps not directly related: don't spend too much time worrying about competitors. Build your thing. Just. Build. It.

If you have innovated and not imitated you will have something that no one else has. It's really that simple. You could sit and fret about how easily Google could destroy you, you could worry about the fact that maybe Facebook offers a similar app/service/whathaveyou… None of that matters. Build your thing.

True originality always wins out in the end.

[Psyonic]

I agree with all that, except the end. By all means just built it, but true originality does not always win in the end. See success of Snuggie vs. earlier product Slanket for reference.