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Can Market Dominance Trump Better Technology?

Can Market Dominance Trump Better Technology?. A Case Study. Arani Bhattacharya. Microprocessor Market in the 80s. Electronic industry made rapid progress Complex circuits in processors feasible Processor instructions (instruction set) became more and more complex

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Can Market Dominance Trump Better Technology?

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  1. Can Market Dominance Trump Better Technology? A Case Study Arani Bhattacharya

  2. Microprocessor Market in the 80s • Electronic industry made rapid progress • Complex circuits in processors feasible • Processor instructions (instruction set) became more and more complex • Trend widely expected to continue • High Level Language Computer Architecture proposed

  3. Expectations proved to be wrong • More complex instructions naturally had to predict user programs behavior • User programs behaved in unexpected ways • Larger memory allowed large programs • Architects proposed going back to simpler instructions

  4. Simple is Beautiful Overlapping of execution stages made possible

  5. Caught up in this game was… Intel

  6. The plight of Intel in the late 80s • Other companies saw an opening • Apple • Motorola • IBM • Sun Microsystems • DEC

  7. Intel Responds • By doing nothing • High market share allowed Intel to carry on • Waited for: • More improvements in electronics • Made it possible to simply instructions internally within the processor • Finally, implemented in 1989

  8. Did high market share allow Intel to ignore superior technology?

  9. Response • Yes: Consensus among architects in academia and industry • No: Intel

  10. Conclusion • Market does not always side with the best technology • Inertia can trump better technology • Industry player with dominant market share can get away with inferior technology

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