To understand today’s world, we need to understand which are the big digital powers that rule the global markets.

The world was connected at the dawn of the 2000s by large digital companies that have changed our behavior and consumption habits.

Digital giants can impact our societies by creating new business models that disrupt traditional ways of doing business. Before Amazon, it was very complicated to shop online and it was perceived as risky and as an activity reserved for geeks. Today, we can’t imagine living without the possibility of ordering anything and everything online.

Digital giants are important to know because they directly impact the lives and uses of people around the world.

It’s not so much their stock market value that makes them famous, but the products they sell and their place in people’s lives. That’s why the digital giants are so well known, while other non-digital companies also generate billions of dollars, but we don’t hear much about them.

If we have known the GAFAM for a long time, the BATX has gained notoriety in recent years.

Many sectors have not yet been impacted by digital technology, leaving room for possible new challengers in the future.

The particularities of digital in the world reflect the commercial cold wars that are at stake today. Despite globalization, the world is still far from being unified and this is also the case in the digital world and on the internet.

The digital world can be divided into

• 3 great powers: USA, Russia, and China;
• 2 unconquered territories: Africa and Asia Minor
• 1 zone of special influence: Europe

GAFAM: the American dream

GAFAM was the first acronym used to designate digital companies.

This group includes a search engine, a social network, a digital marketplace, and two operating systems and electronic device manufacturers.

The acronym GAFAM is used because it is easy to pronounce, but mostly to highlight that it is the products that have an impact on society and not the parent companies. Otherwise, Google would be Alphabet and Facebook would be Meta, so AAMAM would be the updated acronym.

• Google
  Google revolutionized web browsing and made it popular with the general public. Even if Chrome has also become an important part of Internet users’ lives, it is the search engine that has impacted access to knowledge.
• Apple
  Apple is a historical manufacturer that offers an ecosystem of interconnected products. Although Apple has been around for a long time, it was the introduction of the iPhone that established its position as a digital giant.
  The iPhone revolutionized mobile telephony, phone design, but also unlimited access to the Internet and the creation of applications.
• Facebook
  Facebook was the first large-scale social network.
  If today Facebook is criticized for various reasons, it has allowed connecting people on a central place on the Internet.
  The creation of social networks has revolutionized the use of the internet which was then only utilitarian. Now we had a permanent reason to connect to the internet.
• Amazon
  Amazon popularized online sales and above all revolutionized the delivery logistics chain. Even if the working conditions at Amazon are still criticized, the online sales platform has changed forever the way we used to consume on the Internet.
• Microsoft
  Microsoft dates back to the same time as Apple but popularized the purchase of personal computers, which allowed computers to enter the home, whereas they were perceived as professional tools until then.
  The Windows operating system was also the first step towards the popularization of computing by offering a system that was less reliable than Apple, but more flexible.

When we look at the list, we can realize one thing: these companies are old. The youngest is Facebook which was born in 2007, but all the others were already active in the 90s, it took them at least 20 years to reach their current status.

Their funds allow these companies to invest in research. All of them are afraid of being forgotten at the dawn of a new era and new emerging technologies.

That’s why we have so much excitement today about new realities, VR headsets developed by Microsoft and Facebook, AR glasses developed by Google and Apple. The technologies are presented early even if they fail because the GAFAMs want to keep their dominant position on grounds that are still to be conquered.

This is the same reason why blockchain and NFT are so much talked about. At the time GAFAM was born, no one understood the impact it would have 20 years later. Everyone is afraid of missing the beginning of a new technology that would create a multi-billion dollar business.

NATU: the new American dream

NATU are new digital giants offering various services that have or will change the way we live.

As GAFAM is a 15 years old company, it is normal to see the birth of new services based on communication technologies.

In the last few years, many things have become so common that we have forgotten that they existed ten years ago.

• Netflix
  The video-on-demand platform has been around for a long time, but it’s its transition to a digital offering that has changed the world.
  Netflix has enabled several revolutions. The piracy of movies and series has dropped as a result of the popularization of Netflix. Offering a quality service was enough to put an end to a practice that governments had been trying to curb for years in vain.
  The way of consuming series has been changed. Before, it was rare to watch a series in one go. Episodes were broadcast punctually and over several years. Watching six seasons of a series you just discovered is no longer a problem today. This way of consuming has even impacted the world of cinema which had to rethink its way of conceiving series taking into account that they would probably be watched in a reduced time. We even come to make remote controls with an integrated Netflix button.
  The company has been imitated by other entertainment giants but seems to keep its lead
• Airbnb
  The world’s largest hospitality site has no rooms. Airbnb has revolutionized the tourism industry by making it easy to rent apartments, houses, villas at a similar price to any hotel.
• Tesla
  The electric car manufacturer seems to be a blot on the landscape of other digital services, but its place is rather logical.
  Tesla is an operating system manufacturer like Windows or Apple, but its system is specialized for car driving.
  Tesla is undoubtedly the first step towards the digitization of travel, its system will eventually automate the driving of any type of vehicle, but its interface will come with more possibilities than just scheduling trips.
• Uber
  Uber has impacted the market twice. First with Uber VTCs, which reminded people that you could order a personal car with a driver to get around. Then with Uber eats, which revolutionized meal delivery.
  Before Uber eats, the only deliverable meals were pizza and some sushi. Now any restaurant will offer its dishes for delivery. But where Uber has disrupted the market is in the contract system. The drivers and deliverymen are all independent and use the platforms provided by Uber to find missions. Some people talk about precariat as opposed to salaried employment.

NATU have impacted our lives and changed the way we consume services that existed before but were not optimized.

This group is less powerful than GAFAM mainly because they are not as hegemonic. Uber has competitors everywhere and its business model is often dragged into court. Netflix has competition from HBO, Disney, and others. Companies in this group might be replaced by international competitors.

YVMOR: the remnants of the cold war

GAFAMs seem to be everywhere, but that’s not true. There are still some markets that could not be satisfied. It is notably the case of the Russian market which rejects the American giants.

The Russians have the particularity of having their own digital giants offering the same services as GAFAM. The cultural aspect of Ux design has probably played in the appreciation of Russian alternatives.

• Yandex
  Yandex is the equivalent of Google in Russia. The equivalence is advanced since Yandex offers a web browser, images, videos, mailboxes, etc. The Russian search engine is the most used in the motherland and is also used in the countries of the former USSR, the Russian sphere of influence.
• Vkontakte
  VK is the equivalent of Facebook in Russia. Created at the same time between 2007 and 2008, the social network had 100 million registered profiles in two years after its launch.
  Some features are specific to Vk, for example, you can listen to music like on Myspace at the time. The social network has had some success abroad at the time of the closure of Megaupload because it allows to sharing of copyrighted content.
• Mail.ru
  The biggest e-mail address site in Russia, this equivalent to Gmail also has a search engine and a social network competing with VK: Moi Mir
• Ozon.ru
  This site, whose CEO is a woman, is the competitor of Amazon in Russia. The e-commerce site of Jeff Bezos has not succeeded in penetrating the Russian market and has left a vacant place for Ozon which is experiencing strong growth and impressive fundraising.
• Rutube
  Equivalent to Youtube in Russia, this site is independent. Rutube is really in competition with Youtube which exists in Russia. Rutube seems to remain the reference of the video platform in Russia, Youtube being rather intended for an audience seeking internationality.

At a time of strong tension between Russia and the rest of the world regarding the future of Ukraine, we realize that their political and cultural isolation has allowed them to create powerful competitors to the American web giants.

Although we don’t hear much about them today, all of these sites could go international soon. The YVMORs all have plans to expand internationally, the GAFAMs’ grounds could see a whole bunch of competitors coming in almost as powerful as them.

BATX: the Chinese challengers

If the Russian market could not be penetrated by the GAFAMs, it is the same for the Chinese market which seems impregnable.

Many attempts have been made to access the Chinese market which represents a potential of several billion users, but too many factors prevent foreigners from setting up shop in China

• Ux design preferences are opposed to western ones
• Censorship by the Communist Party prevents certain types of services from establishing themselves, notably Google and Youtube which are simply forbidden
• The diversity of the Chinese market is unfathomable. China is a set of provinces that are historically very different. The population density, the dialects, the cuisine differ from one region to another.

Just like the Russian YVMOR, BATX are direct competitors to GAFAM, offering relatively similar services.

• Baidu
  It is the third-largest search engine in the world and the first one in China since Google is banned there. The service is similar to Google and Baidu also offers additional features such as maps, a cloud service, a question and answer forum like Quora, etc.
• Aliexpress
  A competitor of Amazon, Aliexpress has recently exported internationally and competes with Amazon by offering low prices. The online shopping service is very powerful and takes advantage of the new silk roads in Europe and the Middle East.
• Tencent
  More and more known in the West, Tencent is a multi-service platform that offers among others an instant messaging application, WeChat, a social network, an online bank, video games, and works on artificial intelligence.
• Xiaomi
  Xiaomi is a hardware manufacturer, producing among other things smartphones and home automation, competing directly with Apple products in China.

The trade and political war between China and the USA is also felt in the digital tools used. The BATX have been able to emerge thanks to China’s political will to have control over the companies setting upon its territory and to a flourishing economic development. The Chinese market will probably remain impenetrable for foreign companies for a long time.

The expansion of Chinese giants is already underway and a new generation is emerging. In addition to BAXT, there are other fast-growing companies such as TMD:

• Tiktok
  Tiktok is the new favorite social network of young people, based on short video content sharing and discontinuous information chaining. The platform has been adopted by all the influencers and creators of video content ranging from popularization to porn to makeup tutorials and sketch
• Meituan
  Meituan is a company offering meal delivery services as Uber eats, but also any services hotel booking, carpooling, buying movie tickets. The platform already has 400 million users.
• Didi Chuxing
  Equivalent to Uber’s VTC, the application supported by Tencent and Aliexpress has become the reference for cabs in China. Uber had tried to penetrate this market in vain. Presumably, Uber’s problem was the cultural approach and not a poor analysis of the needs

Europe the special influence of regulation

In the rest of the world, few companies can compete with the American, Russian and Chinese giants. However, several unicorns exist.

In Europe, some services have the potential to dominate certain markets but seem to lack the means or the ambition.

Some unicorns to watch closely in Europe are :

• Spotify
  The leader in music listening applications, the Swedish application based in Luxembourg is competing with GAFAM features such as Youtube music or Apple music. Yet Spotify has established itself in the digital landscape. If the company improves its business model to generate significant profits, Spotify could weave its way to the top
• Unity
  Well known in the world of 3D, Unity is a creation engine for video games. Its product has been widely exported to video game studios and the company has benefited from strong fundraising in recent years
• Doctolib
  French platform for booking medical consultations. The application has become the reference in medical appointment booking to the point of being used by the French government to manage vaccination centers during the Covid crisis. The Unicorn could impose itself in the world of teleconsultation and medical administration.
• Zalando
  Zalando is a major clothing sales platform and is now a reference in online shopping in Europe alongside Veepee.

But where Europe imposes its vision is in the European law RGPD.

This law is the first step in the regulation of personal data by digital companies operating in Europe.

The GAFAMs have made a lot of money by exploiting the personal data of users at a time when this notion was absent from the public debate. The RGPD law shakes all that up by preventing the retention of user data and forcing free and informed enlightenment on what should be done with the exploited data. The law is still recent and not applied until the end, but it is enough to worry the web giants.

Google has been condemned several times as a result of this law to pay record fines and Facebook has threatened to withdraw its platforms from Europe if they cannot exploit the data as they see fit.

By acting on the legal register, Europe manages to impose practices on the web giants if it does not have its champions. If other laws emerge to dictate what can and cannot be done on the Internet, Europe will set the tone in the digital world.

The unconquered territories

In our connected world, some territories are behind in their digital development because of political instabilities. This is notably the case of Africa and the Middle East.

South America could also be mentioned in these special territories, but most of the states have a good infrastructure and have adopted the Western model.

Africa does not have any digital giants, but the global digital giants are also having a hard time establishing themselves there.

This is particularly the case because of the political instability of many countries and the lack of infrastructure. The capitals of African countries are generally well served with internet access, but small towns and villages are not. The lack of this technology prevents or limits the emergence of digital businesses.

Yet Africa has enormous potential, especially in terms of connected cities. The project has not been updated for a long time, but a futuristic connected city was to be built south of Dakar.

By having large unused spaces, African territories offer the possibility to develop technologies requiring heavy urban planning works too complicated to implement in Europe or the USA.

The continent relies on its gazelles, companies valued at $100,000, and seeks to develop unicorns. It is unlikely that Africa will be able to create a digital giant as long as the political problems on the ground have not been resolved.

The same is true of the Middle East, which is just recovering from decades of war. Digital access is not a priority in these territories, which have much more to deal with.

Africa and the Middle East are nevertheless territories that have the potential to develop innovative services in environments that are still little impacted by Western digital giants.