Top Tech Companies I Depend On In 2017 …..

Recently I read Farhad Manjoo’s article on nytimes.com about frightful five tech companies and his thought process on order of elimination . I realised that it has been few years since I have created a list of top 5 companies on whom I rely the most on a day-to-day basis.

So here’s my list of top 5 businesses where I have the most reliance for day-to-day services:

1. Apple
   – iPhone
   – Macbook
   – iPad
   – Watch
   – iBooks
   – Apple TV
   – iCloud Services/Photos App
2. Google (Alphabet)
   – Search
   – Youtube
   – Gmail
   – Google Drive
   – Google Photos
3. Facebook
   – Facebook
   – Whatsapp
4. Microsoft
   – Office 365
   – LinkedIn
   – Onedrive
5. Netflix

Next, I wanted to go through the hypothetical scenario where I am being forced to eliminate these services from my life. I wanted to Identify the order in which I will eliminate them.

The first to go for me was Netflix. Not a surprise for me and I did not have to think too hard or wasn’t very emotional about it either. Surprisingly, Netflix is the second company in my list where I spend the most money on a yearly basis after Apple.

The next to go after Netflix was Facebook. I spend substantial time on both Facebook and Whatsapp connecting, socialising and learning. But thinking through it, as much as I will miss not having these services in my life, I can survive. I can go back to emailing and calling people and still being in touch! Also the amount of time I can get back through eliminating them was a no brainer.

Number three on my elimination list was Microsoft. Among productivity tools, my dependency on Office suite of products is very high (interesting that I am typing the draft of this post in OneNote too), followed by LinkedIn for professional networking. But again something I can live without if pushed for it.

The battle for the top spot became difficult. People who know me will know that I love my Apple devices but then without having access to the right services and applications, they will just be pretty awesome devices with little use. My reliance on Apple apps and services is minimal right now. I hardly use iWorks productivity suite. I don’t know what I will do without my iPhone, iPad and my Macbook Pro but hey the hardware itself does not keep me connected and productive.

The last one on my elimination list is Alphabet (Google) products. I have heavy reliance on all major Alphabet services such as mail, videos, storage and importantly search. If I had to give up using all other companies, I can downgrade myself to using Android (;) ;)) and use Google productivity suite, search using Google and entertain myself watching content on Youtube.

This thought experiment also lead me to think about importance of services eco system, but let’s leave that for another post.

What are the top 5 Organisations that you rely on the most and what would your elimination list look like?