> In 1995 investors mistakenly thought investing in Netscape was a way to bet on the future
Maybe they were just too early, later on it turned out that the browser is indeed a very valuable and financially sound investment. For Google at least.
So having a dominant market share can indeed be even if the underlying tech is not exactly unobtainable by others.
A browser would be worthless to Google without DoubleClick ad network monopoly, which they acquired years before Chrome. Netscape tried to charge for their browser and stopped because Microsoft was giving away Internet Explorer free with every Windows PC.
Maybe they were just too early, later on it turned out that the browser is indeed a very valuable and financially sound investment. For Google at least.
So having a dominant market share can indeed be even if the underlying tech is not exactly unobtainable by others.