New York: For decades, the technology industry has been chasing a white whale: becoming the operating system for the home. The company that figures out the home operating system may, like Microsoft did, bask in riches and shape the direction of the digital world. Expect Google (Alphabet Inc.) to soon push hard with Google Home, one of the company’s multiple, chaotic attempts to become the digital controller for our homes. Somehow, surprisingly, Amazon has outmanoeuvred Apple, Google and all the other tech industry big guns with its two-year-old Echo line of digital-activated speakers that had cost $180. The key to becoming a dominant operating system is persuading as many other companies as possible to tailor their products to your operating system, just as Microsoft did with Windows and Apple with iPhones.

Source: Mint September 15, 2016 19:30 UTC