What will happen if Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon and Microsoft will disappear?
Imagine the following scenario. You wake up, have your coffee (or tea, or vodka, whatever put you in focus), pick up your mobile or sit by your laptop and you find out that these companies do not exist. Passed away, kicked the bucket, they are gone. They are late parrot. No Facebook updates, no Google services, no deals from Amazon , no overpriced design from Apple and no whatever Microsoft provides these days.
So, what are you going to do? How will it affect your life? Will you feel sorry? Are you going to miss them? Is your life going to be disrupted, getting to a screeching halt?
My guess? Nothing is going to happen. Even in the most dire scenario, in which you are working for these companies, you will soon find a new job (assuming that you really deserve the money you currently getting from these companies). We all have alternatives.
In a way, they are now in the same position in which the Coca Cola company is. I mean, If you won't be seeing Coke ads or be exposed to its marketing, will it matter if you drink it or just something else?
You will have your stuff delivered to you by someone else or, god forbid, you will actually go to the store. You will use a different search engine or even consider asking someone (and how is the library these days?). you will not upgrade your phone or your word processor and you will actually call someone to ask him how is he doing...
Although I can't see how a market cap of over 4 trillion is going to disappear over night, There is something that we need to consider:
- How come these huge companies getting their high valuation, despite the fact that they are not "making a dent in the universe" (according to Steve Jobs) after all?
- How long will it take to replace the whatever value they provide to us?
- Is their innovation really matters?
- Do the provide an essential value to our society and to our life?
And if you are working for these companies, what is your value and what is your contribution? Are you spending your life on something meaningful?