Like highways, GAFA’s objective is to maximize traffic. Like highways, GAFA can be free for many drivers. However, like highways, GAFA charges a portion of users (long-distance drivers) through tolls (premium devices, apps… And goods). Like highways, GAFA also makes money by selling ad space to advertisers. And by taking a cut on third-party businesses (think of the application store as a kind of roadside service area, with mushrooming restaurants and gas stations). Like highways, GAFA platforms don’t compete head-on. Instead, GAFA creates as many junctions as it can to maximize network effects that benefit everybody. Like highways, GAFA strives to maintain the best driver experience (better and faster roads) by constantly investing in core infrastructure (data centers, social graph, cloud infrastructure). Last but not least, like highways, GAFA platforms are natively made to expand further and further: the GAFA companies constantly experiment to realize their vision and reinvent themselves.

2015
Ink on paper – A3
For FABERNOVEL
Newletter of Gafanomics