[avichal]

I just realized that Google won on search the way Apple has won on smartphones. They control the full stack -- frontend, relevance, indexing, advertising -- and tightly couple these pieces. Inktomi couldn't control the user interface the way Google can't really control the interface on Android.

[dwc]

You are right, but IMO you miss the real point. Both Google's search and Apple's iPhone were about delivering a wholly satisfying product/service, and controlling the whole stack was needed to do that for those cases. This is not always true (though it often is).

[avichal]

Yeah, it's pretty hard to know when it is and isn't. Vertical integration is as old as business.

[MaysonL]

Of course, Google's search was about that, while the iPhone still is. And the iPhone has been improving a lot faster than Google's search.