Ask HN: Which companies gained a competitive edge purely via engineering?

[j1000]

For example: WhatsApp or Crash Bandicoot (1996)?

[mrhottakes]

A long long time ago: Oracle

[yepyoukno]

Uh, wut?

Try “Sun Microsystems”!

[mrhottakes]

That is another company that built an advantage with engineering, true.

[farseer]

Google search was way better than yahoo or altavista

[aristofun]

Whatsapp, really?

[Johanx64]

Before FB acquisition:

Yes, really, it ran on potato feature phones you've never even heard of. That can only happen if you really bend backwards to make it happen.

Massive userbase with very tiny team.

[aristofun]

Okay. Cause it still feels like running on a potato phone on latest iphone :)

[dennisjoseph]

Garmin

[nimblist]

In theory they still do. I can't imagine giving up weeks of battery life for wondering whether it's going to last through the day but apple/galaxy watch buyers see differently by a massive margin

[AnimalMuppet]

SGI.

Hewlett Packard.

DEC.

[bitbasher]

Bell Labs

[hnthrow10282910]

Crazy company. Not sure any has existed like it with possibly the exception of early Google