Law of duality crushed?
Thanks, and I can see your argument -- perhaps there is a growing trend for a three-horse race (or more), but you don't mention a critical factor here -- timeframe. A look at the empirical analysis for your evidence would be interesting.
This theory runs counter to Ries and Trout's Law of Duality in their book "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing." The references mentioned in the their book are a bit dated, Nike vs. Reebok, but they also state clearly that it's a LONG RUN theory -- add your own definition of "long run".
Dual examples: Coke & Pepsi, Energizer and Duracell, Visa and MasterCard