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by mikeash 4074 days ago
I think it's a great example right now. I don't see any benefits from the Google acquisition, and the product is slowly stagnating. The iOS app doesn't even have native iPhone 6+ support yet! Meanwhile Google is making great use of Waze data in Google Maps. The current state of things is great if you're a Maps user, less great if you're a Waze user, and I don't see any indication that's going to change.

Put the Waze acquisition onto Tesla. Google buys Tesla just as the Model S is coming out, and starts using the technology to benefit their own products. Which products it would benefit I'm not sure, but maybe they improve the batteries for Android phones, or start using the Model S as the testbed for their self-driving cars, or something. Meanwhile the Model S stays as it was in 2013, with some minor improvements. This would be a terrible outcome!
1 comments
magicalist 4074 days ago
Waze does need to update for the iPhone 6 even (not just the plus), but there are many non-Google apps that need to do the same, and it does still get updates. Supposedly they're working on a UI refresh[1], but that's what everyone who hasn't updated yet says.

I'm not arguing that a Tesla acquisition would have been better than the outcome we got, there's almost no way it would have been, but I would argue that that would be true for any company doing the acquiring. Acquisitions are just really tough for the identity of a product by their very nature.

[1] https://twitter.com/waze/status/584435142040690688

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mikeash 4074 days ago
"I would argue that that would be true for any company doing the acquiring."

Well then, we agree. I'm not saying, "Thank goodness Google didn't acquire them." I'm saying, "Thank goodness they weren't acquired" and it just happens to be in the context of a story about Google doing the acquiring.

I can't think of any company that could have acquired Tesla where the outcome would have been favorable for the things I personally want. There were rumors going around a while ago about Apple buying them, and my reaction was the same there.

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