Ask HN: Which companies gained a competitive edge purely via engineering?

5 points by j1000 78 days ago | 13 comments

For example: WhatsApp or Crash Bandicoot (1996)?

mrhottakes 78 days ago |

A long long time ago: Oracle

yepyoukno 78 days ago | |

Uh, wut?

Try “Sun Microsystems”!

mrhottakes 78 days ago | | |

That is another company that built an advantage with engineering, true.

farseer 77 days ago |

Google search was way better than yahoo or altavista

aristofun 76 days ago |

Whatsapp, really?

j1000 67 days ago | |

I recommend to read about WhatsApp how they scaled to nearly 1 billion users with only about 50 engineers. Also check how they optimised BE system.

Johanx64 76 days ago | |

Before FB acquisition:

Yes, really, it ran on potato feature phones you've never even heard of. That can only happen if you really bend backwards to make it happen.

Massive userbase with very tiny team.

aristofun 76 days ago | | |

Okay. Cause it still feels like running on a potato phone on latest iphone :)

dennisjoseph 77 days ago |

Garmin

nimblist 76 days ago | |

In theory they still do. I can't imagine giving up weeks of battery life for wondering whether it's going to last through the day but apple/galaxy watch buyers see differently by a massive margin

AnimalMuppet 77 days ago |

SGI.

Hewlett Packard.

DEC.

bitbasher 78 days ago |

Bell Labs

hnthrow10282910 76 days ago | |

Crazy company. Not sure any has existed like it with possibly the exception of early Google