It almost always seems to be a TWO way contest.... Isn't it interesting?

This appears to be the case in every democracy I can think of off-hand, which the news reports about....

It turns out to be the same for PRODUCTS too, in any well-defined sufficiently precise category.... in mature industries at least....

TWO leaders carve up most of the pie between themselves, and while further differentiation can then change that.... It seems to be widespread....

For example, COKE and.... PEPSI....

GENERAL MOTORS and.... FORD (until the Japanese car manufacturers came along and took some big slices for themselves)....

MICROSOFT and.... APPLE....

This shake-up is happening online now too....

AMAZON.COM and.... BN.COM

(Few mention borders.com, for instance....)

An almost universal trend as industries mature....

It's tough for a number 3 to get a look in, if they are seen to be competing for the same sufficiently precise slot....

And for number 4, even tougher....

It's like our brain has only room for 2 places for any well-defined category, and unless it is sufficiently differentiated (eg. sports cars vs. economical cars), our mind doesn't want to go beyond 2....

Any thoughts on this?

- Dien