The power of defaults

The essay argues that network effects are often overrated as a source of defensibility, and that the more durable advantage is becoming the default on a layer of the tech stack. It contrasts Friendster, MySpace and Facebook, noting that social networks and chat apps have not tipped toward a single winner, and it points out that Google pays Apple $15bn per year to remain the default search engine on iOS. It suggests that atom-based products gain lock-in from marginal costs and physical space constraints, and that software layers face scarce pixel real estate, with Google's browser homepage cited as an example of such a default.