Two to three years ago it seemed that our heros in the tech world were Apple, Google, Facebook and Mozilla. Apple was riding a streak of product wins and scored massive multi-ball points with the iPhone and iPod Touch. The app store was an example of industry and made money for lots of people. Google was showing the world that the Do no Evil mantra was still alive and showed us the PaaS model was alive. Facebook started to become the destination for social conversation and calendar and Mozilla had a solid browser that gave it’s users access to plug-ins that worked and a platform that didn’t cause issues.
Now in 2010 it’s a different story.
Apple is being called arrogant from some of it’s most ardent supporters and important tech-cheerleaders. The iPad is not being cheered on and hailed – it’s Apples version of the pinball TILT at this point (granted it’s only been a day since it’s been announced). Google is trying to recapture some of it’s hacker and painter magic by standing up for human rights, throwing a fit about China’s cyber attack. Facebook puts you on a roller-coaster of privacy concerns and Mozilla’s browser as of 3.5 has introduced a number of issues with Flash that cause stability issues and are leaving the tech adopters with Google Chrome as the choice for solid web browser.
What is it that turned the fortunes? Was it that American people are super distrustful of any large corporation after the latest recession? Is it that these companies got enough mind share and are running into classic PR and image issues? Is it arrogance and greed that is seeping in?