Micah Rosenbloom writes at TechCrunch:
Theranos' largest competitors, Quest Laboratories and LabCorp have combined revenues of over $13B per year. If all Theranos ever did was make that industry more convenient, faster, and prettier using standard tools, isn't that impressive enough on its own?
Asked another way, how is offering accurate, more convenient tests, at a lower cost, using industry-leading technology—while simultaneously spending tens of millions on R&D that could further reduce the cost, complexity, and pain of blood testing—a bad thing? That's a vision I'd invest in if given the chance (at the right valuation of course!)...
Theranos has been accused of a bait and switch because they use a competitor's lab equipment to run most of their tests. Is it a moral failing that Netflix is powered by Amazon Web Services? Netflix has figured out how to add value on the back of a direct competitor's infrastructure. Does this invalidate Netflix's business model?
Of course not. We love Netflix because Orange is the New Black is awesome and their user-experience is amazing. This is essentially what's happening at Theranos at the moment—boring tech is being repackaged and brought to consumers for a small fee.
If you've been following the Theranos story and are interested in it, this one is probably worth the click and the time to read in full — I thought it was, at least.
