2018年经济学人 驯服巨人:科技公司称霸网络(2)（在线收听）

The platforms have become so dominant because they benefit from “network effects”.

这些平台之所以能够称霸，原因在于“网络效应”。

Size begets size: the more sellers Amazon, say, can attract, the more buyers will shop there, which attracts more sellers, and so on.

比方说，亚马逊上的卖家越多，就会吸引更多买家来购物，而这又能吸引更多的卖家。

By some estimates, Amazon captures over 40% of online shopping in America.

如此这般，雪球越滚越大。据估计，亚马逊抢占了美国网购总额的40%以上。

With more than 2bn monthly users, Facebook holds sway over the media industry. Firms cannot do without Google, which in some countries processes more than 90% of web searches.

Facebook的月活跃用户超过20亿，掌控着媒体行业。企业离不开谷歌，在一些国家，90%以上的网络搜索用的都是谷歌。

Facebook and Google control two-thirds of America’s online ad revenues.

Facebook和谷歌这两家公司控制了美国在线广告收入的三分之二。

America’s trustbusters have given tech giants the benefit of the doubt. They look for consumer harm, which is hard to establish when prices are falling and services are “free”.

美国的反垄断机构对科技巨头使用了无罪推定。它们要先找到消费者受害的证据，但在价格下降、服务“免费”的情况下很难做到。

The firms themselves stress that a giant-killing startup is just a click away and that they could be toppled by a new technology, such as the blockchain.

这些巨头自己也强调，说不定点一下鼠标的工夫，击垮巨头的创业公司就出现了，而且它们还可能会被类似区块链的新技术所颠覆。

Before Google and Facebook, Alta Vista and MySpace were the bee’s knees. Who remembers them?

谷歌和Facebook出现之前，Alta Vista和MySpace都是行业翘楚，如今谁还记得它们？

However, the barriers to entry are rising.

然而，行业门槛在不断抬高。

Facebook not only owns the world’s largest pool of personal data, but also its biggest “social graph”—the list of its members and how they are connected.

Facebook不仅拥有世界上最丰富的个人数据，还有最大的“社交图谱”——用户名单以及用户之间的联系。

Amazon has more pricing information than any other firm.

亚马逊掌握的定价信息比其他任何公司都多。

Voice assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant, will give them even more control over how people experience the internet.

亚马逊的Alexa和谷歌的Assistant这些语音助手将能让它们更好地控制人们的互联网体验。

China’s tech firms have the heft to compete, but are not about to get unfettered access to Western consumers.

中国的科技企业有竞争的实力，但还不能自由地服务西方的消费者。

If this trend runs its course, consumers will suffer as the tech industry becomes less vibrant. Less money will go into startups, most good ideas will be bought up by the titans and, one way or another, the profits will be captured by the giants.

如果任由这个趋势发展，科技行业会变得缺乏活力，消费者利益也会因而受损。投向创业公司的资金会减少，大多数好的创意都将被巨头买断，而且，利润总归都会被巨头收入囊中。

The early signs are already visible.

这种情况已初见端倪。