Starbucks vs. Dunkin': How Capitalism Gives the Illusion of Choice | Hacker News Reader

Starbucks vs. Dunkin': How Capitalism Gives the Illusion of Choice

theguardian.com

>Calling a friend for after-work plans? That will be with an iPhone, most likely (55% market share): or perhaps a Samsung (25%).

Does the iPhone really have 55% market share? I don't believe that for a minute.

No, iphone does not have a 55% markey share. Its wrong.

https://www.counterpointresearch.com/combined-global-market-...

https://www.androidauthority.com/smartphone-market-share-201...

This article is US specific. The iPhone has a higher market share in the US than just about anywhere else.

https://deviceatlas.com/blog/android-v-ios-market-share#us

Pretty hard to believe that Instagram has a 2% social network market share. Having looked at the source material for that particular chart, it dates from Nov. 2017, not 2019 as stated in the article. It seems poorly researched and overblown. How many car companies/coffee chains/social networks should there be? I don't see how anyone could answer that question from a logical perspective.

I don't understand the point of emphasizing corporations over brands. There are many toothpastes available to me in any supermarket. They vary by brand, and about five attributes (whitening, enamel protection, etc.) How would things really be different if those brands were offered by more or fewer corporations?

I generally prefer Starbucks over Dunkin' Donuts, but both offer a wide variety of options.

I don't understand why, as a consumer, you'd care about brands.

Corporations often differ in some fundamental ways. Since 2017, 100% of Dunkin Donuts locations are franchises[1]. This puts a Dunkin Donuts location somewhere between a local business and a multinational corporation in my mind--when there are no local coffee shops available, I'll choose Dunkin Donuts over Starbucks, because I'd rather support small business owners who are more directly responsible to their customers.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkin%27_Donuts#United_States

it is irrelevant what companies offer the products. There is still choice of product because of capitalism.

Socialist economies reduce the total product offering as well as innovation.

In a capitalist grocery store we have a choice of 10 types of apples. In a communist grocery store there might not be apples.

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