This chapter’s “AIS in the Business World” focused on Google. But, Google is not “the only game in town” when it comes to information technology. According to “Apple, Amazon and Google: The Competition Is Heating Up” by John Macris (30 April 2013, http://beta.fool.com):

  

      

  

Products like Amazon Cloud and Amazon Prime compete very directly with products like Google Drive and Google Shopping.

  

Consider the list of Google products at http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/. Choose one as the basis for answering the following questions:

  

a. Use the steps in the systems development life cycle (SDLC) to explain how a company like Amazon, Apple or some other firm would develop a product or service to compete with the Google product you chose.

  

b. Does using the SDLC correspond to any particular level of the capability maturity model (CMM)? Why, or why not?

  

c. Consider at least one macrolevel and one microlevel factor from Figure 5.3 in the context of the product/service you suggested in (a). Prepare a short written summary and/or oral presentation relating the factors to your product/service. (For example, how would you demonstrate the “need” for your product/service?)

  

      

Fast-forward to present date, and Apple, Amazon, and Google are fiercely competing to become the most powerful name in technology. The concrete borders that once separated one company from another have been knocked down, and the areas of distinction are becoming fewer (sic) as these businesses increasingly overlap. Consumers frequently use the names of all three companies in the same conversation.