That's simple equivocation - you think you can redefine "fast follower" so narrowly? It would certainly be convenient to ignore the similarities of Android and Google+ to their predecessors, but it wouldn't be particularly honest.
Just like if you were to accuse them of "trademark infringement" or "copyright infringement".
It's just not a very broad word, it's quite specific, and you shouldn't use it. You can call them derivative or unoriginal, for example, or describe what you think they're doing. But you can't call Google+ a "trademark infringement" of Facebook, for example, because they don't use the word Facebook, and you can't call it a "fast following" either, because it's not close enough.
Google Search wasn't "fast following" Yahoo web search, and Gmail wasn't "fast following" Yahoo Mail (another web mail), and Google maps weren't "fast following" mapquest or whatever people were using, and Google+ isn't "fast following" Facebook.
Not because they aren't in the same space, or taking cues. But because of the meaning of fast following, which is extremely specific. (Almost like feature and layout matching.)
You see how it works? Look up trademark, copyright, and fast following - then you will see that you really can't use these particular words of Google. You can use other words of course.
You see? This is how the whole word is defined. Nobody, but nobody, accuses Google of using this strategy. They're just not doing it, just like they're not committing trademark infringement.
it's a very real strategy that is very shitty. I'm not redefining the word to refer to it - you are if you want it to be broader :).
You can use any other word you want, but the "fast follow", for better or for worse, has a specific meaning that does not apply.
By the way I am a huge opponent of the fast follow strategy! I think it amounts to theft. The only legal protection companies have is design and utility patents, but that opens its own can of worms.
It is better if companies simply don't use this strategy to steal other companies' work.
I hope in reading the above link you will come to the same conclusion, and use different words to describe what you mean. Thanks.
You could search the web as a whole and find many examples of fast follower used as I used it. You don't have to look very hard at all to find it applied to Google. Your definition is excessively narrow.
