Tech's broken promises: Streaming is now just as expensive and confusing as cable. Ubers cost as much as taxis. And the cloud is no longer cheap.
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Some tech is getting pricier and looking a lot like the older services it was supposed to beat. From video streaming to ride-hailing and cloud computing.

Tech’s broken promises: Streaming is now just as expensive and confusing as cable. Ubers cost as much as taxis. And the cloud is no longer cheap::Some tech is getting pricier and looking a lot like the older services it was supposed to beat. From video streaming to ride-hailing and cloud computing.

  • wewbullEnglish
    172·
    10 months ago

    I think we’ve started to discover what the ??? steps before profit were.

    The model was:

    • Start streaming service
    • ???
    • Profit

    It’s now:

    • Start streaming service
    • Subsidise it heavily creating premium content whilst undercutting competition.
    • keep doing it until competitors go broke
    • Raise prices to an actually sustainable level
    • Profit (although we’ve lost a ton of capital)

    This is a form of market manipulation which is outright illegal in some countries (e.g. Australia) and can be illegal in the US and EU if it meets certain criteria. It falls under anti-trust and monopoly prevention laws.

    Basically our regulators aren’t doing their job well enough, but what’s new?