As I write in The Age of the Platform, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have many things in common, no the least of which is the tendency to disrupt themselves before others do. Case in point: Amazon recently lowering its prices on AWS.

If profits are lower in the hosting world, why would others enter?

For its part, Google doesn’t want to become Microsoft. In a world of “social search”, why do I need Google? In a nutshell, that explains Google Plus.

Disrupt yourself before someone else does.

It’s the mantra in the Age of the Platform.