Dueling Works / Other

• Initiators / Followers
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Description
  • Implementation: Implementation

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Electronics

• I'm A Mac / And I'm A Windows PC. Also, GNU/Linux
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Personal computers designed, developed, and marketed to users. Apple was the solution for the novice computer hobbyist that became Mac; IBM wanted a more business-friendly version whose OS became Windows.
  • Implementation: Apple has traditionally been the home of designers; when Apple bought NeXT, it amalgamated a UNIX core. Microsoft's MS-DOS and Windows were designed for use in businesses, and later, in homes. GNU/Linux (originally just GNU) was developed as a free (as in freedom, not necessarily as in price) replacement for the most widely used (at the time) OS in academia and businesses—UNIX. It later developed as the free OS par excellence with POSIX compatibility a major design feature.
• LaserDisc / Video CD; CED
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Early disc-based video systems.
  • Implementation: LaserDisc hit the market first, and used humongous discs with an analogue data format. CED arrived a few years later (despite having been in development for longer than LaserDisc) and was basically a phonographic disc with video and a protective plastic cover. Video CD was the last to hit, boasting the smallest discs and digital technology, but also had the lowest picture quality (worse than VHS, in fact).
• DVD-R(W) / DVD+R(W); DVD-RAM
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Recordable and rewritable DVD formats.
  • Implementation: DVD-RAM was the first to the market, and had an entirely different design to the other two. DVD-R(W) and DVD+R(W) were very similar formats, but the latter had some subtle differences that supposedly gave it better back-compatibility with older DVD hardware.
• HD DVD / Blu-ray
  • Capsule Pitch Description: A high definition optical disc format.
  • Implementation: Toshiba led the design of HD DVD and Sony launched Blu-ray, after the two companies had failed to agree on a common standard. Both formats debuted in 2006, with the first HD DVD discs and players appearing in April and beating Blu-ray rivals by two months. HD DVD equipment and movies initially were cheaper to produce and sell, but Blu-ray discs had more capacity (up to 50 gigabytes versus a 30GB maximum for HD DVD) for video, hi-fi soundtracks and special features.
• Columbia 33 1/3 rpm long-playing record / RCA 45 rpm single record
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Vinyl microgroove discs with better, quieter sound and more durability than shellac-based 78 rpm records.
  • Implementation: Columbia Records introduced the LP in 1948, with RCA Records responding with the 7" 45 a year later. Both companies were unwilling to license the other's technology at first; Columbia released 7" 33 1/3 rpm singles while RCA released 45 rpm albums on multiple discs packaged like the old 78 rpm albums.
• Betamax / Video Home System (VHS); Video 2000
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Devices to record TV and watch movies at home.
  • Implementation: Betamax was released in 1975 and was based on Sony's earlier U-matic format, whereas VHS came out in 1976-1977, was a new format made by JVC, and could record at slower speeds, allowing for longer recording times. Video 2000 was a Philips-designed format that was more-or-less on par with Beta, but was never exported from its native Europe.
• Zip Drive / LS-120 Superdrive; Sony HiFD
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Floppy drive replacements, with similar-sized disks, but vastly greater capacity.
  • Implementation: The LS-120 and HiFD were compatible with 3.5" floppies, but the Zip Drive wasn't. Initially the Zip Drive had 100MB of storage, the LS-120 had (surprise) 120MB, and the HiFD had 150MB. Greater-sized versions of all of these would subsequently be released.
• Kindle / Nook
  • Capsule Pitch Description: E-book readers, which are tablet-like devices that display digital versions of books in a smaller, water-resistant form.
  • Implementation: Amazon came out with their Kindle back in 2007, while Barnes & Noble's Nook came out two years later.
• Oculus Rift / HTC Vive; Sony PlayStation VR
  • Capsule Pitch Description: virtual reality devices, released in 2016.
  • Implementation: The Rift and Vive are designed for high-end PCs, while the PlayStation VR is an accessory for the Playstation 4. The former two also have in-built motion tracking, while the PSVR relies on the PS4's camera to track head position. The Vive is the only one of the three to include motion controllers as standard, with the other two having them as optional extras.
• Cinema Digital Sound / Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Digital cinema sound formats introduced in The '90s.
  • Implementation: All the formats except DTS used encoded data printed onto the film reel. DTS however used a timecode from which a CD would play the audio.

Food and Drink

• Coca-Cola / Pepsi
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Cola-flavored, carbonated soft drinks created around the same time.
  • Implementation: Coca-Cola has typically had more success with a "traditional" audience and with restaurant contracts and other exclusive-pouring-rights deals. Pepsi usually is more successful with younger audiences and outsells Coke at retail points-of-sale where both are available.
• Smarties / M&M's
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Bite-sized candy-coated chocolate.
  • Implementation: The latter is made by Mars, while the former is made by Nestlé. Smarties (not to be confused with the fruit-flavored American tablet candy marketed as Rockets elsewhere) are not available in the U.S. except in special import stores.
• Hydrox / Oreo
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Chocolate sandwich cookies with cream filling.
  • Implementation: Sunshine Biscuits rolled out Hydrox back in 1908, while Nabisco produced Oreo four years later.
• Kinder Surprise / Toto
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Hollow chocolate eggs with collectible toys inside.
  • Implementation: Ferrero (makers of Nutella and Rocher) makes the former, while Nestlé (makers of Butterfinger, Kit Kat, Crunch, etc.) makes the latter. Both are very similar, except the Kinder eggs' shells contain both milk and white chocolate as opposed to Toto's sole milk chocolate. Kinder eggs, at least, are Banned in America due to being "choking hazards" for children. However, in 2017, Kinder Joy, which was originally made for sale in climates where the chocolate would melt and had the toy and chocolate as separate parts.
• Oxo / Bovril
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Highly concentrated meat stock that could be made into soup.
  • Implementation: Oxo was created by German chemist Baron Justus von Liebig, who created the Meat extract method in 1840 and began production in 1866. Bovril was made by Scotsman John Lawson Johnston as resqusted by the French to feed their people during their war with Prussia in 1870.
• Gatorade / Powerade
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Sports drinks.
  • Implementation: Gatorade was originally created in 1965 as an experiment for athletes to use when they sweat a lot between games, which made it into a success. Meanwhile, Powerade was specifically created for the 1988 Olympics.

Household Products

• Axe/Lynx / Tag
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Body sprays that have had a lot of success marketing to young men and teenagers.
  • Implementation: "You'll get laid if you spray this on".
• Slanket / Snuggie
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Sweater blankets for those too incompetent to operate one.
  • Implementation: The Slanket was first invented in 1998 and marketed in 2006, while the first Snuggie commercial started airing circa 2008.
• Zorbeez / Sham Wow!
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Super-absorbent towels.
  • Implementation: While Vince Offer pitched Sham Wow!, Billy Mays took on Zorbeez two years prior.
• Quick Chop / Slap Chop
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Food choppers.
  • Implementation: Vince pitched the latter once again, while Billy pitched the former before that.
• Pampers / Huggies
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Disposable diaper brands
  • Implementation: Pampers, owned by international consumer goods company Procter & Gamble, is the brand that perfected and codified the disposable diaper. Huggies, owned by American personal care corporation Kimberly-Clark, is the strongest competitor, having perfected and codified other sub-products, such as training pants (Pull-Ups), swim diapers (Little Swimmers), and absorbent underpants for bed-wetting (GoodNites, which broke off into its own brand). Pampers fought back with Easy-Ups, Splashers, and UnderJams, respectively.
• Depend / TENA, Always Discreet
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Adult diaper brands. Both offer more discreet and underwear-like products.
  • Implementation: Depend, by Huggies manufacturer Kimberly-Clark, is the first major adult incontinence brand, while TENA, owned by Swedish consumer goods company SCA, is the most prominent competitor, also offering panty-liners/pads; Always Discreet, by Pampers manufacturer Procter & Gamble, is a sub-product of their Always line of feminine-hygiene products, aimed at the female incontinence market.

Media Distributors

• XM Radio / Sirius Radio
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Revolutionary satellite radio providers.
  • Implementation: Very similar marketing strategies. So much so that at the launch of this trope there's no agreed discernible difference yet.
• British Satellite Broadcasting / Sky Television
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Britain's official satellite TV contractor vs Rupert Murdoch's more downmarket upstart.
  • Implementation: BSB hoped its superior technology and programming would win viewers, while Sky relied on cheaper equipment and aggressive marketing.
• Sky Digital / ON Digital (later ITV Digital), NTL & Blueyonder Digital (later Virgin Media)
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Subscription-based digital TV delivery systems in the UK, all launching in around 1998.
  • Implementation: Sky Digital and NTL/Blueyonder were new versions of their existing analogue products, with all previous customers being upgraded to the digital versions by late 2001. ONDigital was an entirely new service based on digital terrestrial technology, and in mid-2001 was rebranded as ITV Digital in a marketing move (ITV already partly owned ONDigital).
• Steam / Direct 2 Drive, Impulse, Origin (formerly EA Store), Games for Windows Live marketplace, Gog.com, many others.
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Internet-based game delivery and content management systems.
  • Implementation: Steam was the brainchild of Valve, Direct2Drive was created by IGN^note and later bought out by GameFly, Impulse was founded by Stardock^note but is now owned by GameStop, Origin is run by Electronic Arts, Gog.com is built by CDProjektRED, and Games for Windows Live marketplace, unsurprisingly, is run by Microsoft.
• Xbox Live Arcade / Playstation Store, WiiWare Marketplace
  • Capsule Pitch Description: "Casual gaming" marketplaces for home gaming consoles.
  • Implementation: Xbox Live Arcade debuted on the original Xbox, but really took off with the Xbox 360. The other two debuted on the Playstation 3 and Wii respectively, and later expanded their range to include the Playstation Portable and DSi.
• iOS / Android, Windows Phone, Windows 8 & RT
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Smartphone and tablet operating systems
  • Implementation: Apple follows its usual business model of offering an integrated product with a walled garden of approved apps while Android combines the PC and open-source business models. Windows Phone is based off the long-running Windows CE line from the 90s and 00s, and many of its features were incorporated into Windows 8 and its ARM version, Windows RT.
• Nickelodeon / Cartoon Network
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Television networks with a primary focus on children's animation. Both networks are among the primary sources of Television animation, having been so for the last 20 years. They're also two of the major forces against the Animation Age Ghetto.
  • Implementation: Nickelodeon began in The '80s as Pinwheel, with intent as the first kids' network. In 1990, it debuted its first original programs. Overall, Nick focuses more on general kids' entertainment, with the Nick Jr. and TeenNick sub-networks focusing on preschoolers and teenagers, respectively. Cartoon Network began on 1992, with Ted Turner's acquirement of the Hanna-Barbera, MGM, and Warner Bros. animation libraries, eventually shifting focus to original content as well. Overall, CN focuses more on general animation, with the [adult swim] block cornering the market on adult animation, and the Toonami block introducing American audiences to Anime.
• LiveJournal / Tumblr
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Fandom and social justice blog site.
  • Implementation: LiveJournal began in 1999, using a traditional blog with comments style, and built communities based on membership and posting to those communities. Tumblr launched in 2007 and was geared towards posting of pictures, video and smaller length text posts by individuals, with subjects grouped by a tag system rather than in communities.
• MySpace / Facebook
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Social networking sites.
  • Implementation: MySpace launched near the end of 2003, while Facebook (or "The Facebook", as it was called early in its life) launched a few months later in early 2004.
• Kino International / The Criterion Collection
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Film distribution companies that specialize in arthouse and historically important films. Both release films regularly with a slew of supplemental material.
  • Implementation: Kino was founded in 1977 with The Criterion Collection being founded in 1984

Non-Literary Reading

• Recipe Secrets / America's Most Wanted Recipes
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Books about cloning brand name foods.
  • Implementation: Recipe cloning of brand name foods by taking portions home, guessing how much ingredients are needed to make a single serving and the methods required to make it almost like the original. Almost, partly for legal reasons and partly because you can't get things like pure commercial-grade HFCS or preservatives in home-use quantities.
• For Dummies / The Complete Idiot's Guide
  • Capsule Pitch Description: How-to books intended for absolute beginners.
  • Implementation: Both became popular with books about DOS, published about 3 years apart (Dummies in 1991, Idiot's in 1994).
• Playboy / Penthouse
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Men's magazines featuring nudity.
  • Implementation: Once the American arm of Penthouse arrived in the US in 1969, causing roar by its raunchier content.
• Encyclopædia Britannica / World Book Encyclopedia
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Encyclopedias and other reference books.
  • Implementation: Britannica was first printed in the 1750s, predating the United States, and for years was the gold standard for scholarly reference, but some believed Britannica (and its American variant, Encyclopedia Americana) and other encyclopedias of the era were a bit too sophisticated. In 1917, Chicago-based publishers and educators J.H. Hansen and John Bellow believed that an encyclopedia for the general public – especially families with elementary, junior high and high school students – would be essential, and so came World Book. World Book quickly became critically acclaimed for its easy-to-read style, and gained a reputation for its articles on historical, scientific, technical and medical subjects, and it was priced so that most average families could easily afford a set ($100-150 in the years after World War II, and still less than $250 in the early 1970s, with payment plans available). Although most encyclopedias did have new editions each year and had a program of revising articles, World Book set new standards of updating articles every year (new editions have come out each year since 1925, with the exception of 1932 and a couple years during World War II), and adding new articles on topics of current interest in every field, from the arts, culture and history to science, technical subjects and other areas of knowledge; complete revisions were done in 1933, 1947, 1967 and 1988. Two children's encyclopedias (Childcraft and the Discovery Encyclopedia), a two-volume dictionary, an atlas and much more from the World Book folks have been offered through the years.

Restaurant Chains

• McDonald's / Burger King
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Multinational fast-food chain specializing in hamburgers.
  • Implementation: The McDonald brothers opened their first restaurant in 1940 and started franchising in 1953. ^note (McDonald's claims the chain was founded by Ray Kroc in 1955, but he only established the ninth restaurant in the chain that year.) The first Burger King opened as "Insta-Burger King" in 1953, with franchising beginning the next year; the founders of the first franchise had visited the original McDonald's location and were inspired to start up a similar operation.
• White Castle / Krystal
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Fast food chain specializing in miniature hamburgers.
  • Implementation: White Castle was founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1921; Krystal in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1932.

Retail Chains

• B. Dalton / Waldenbooks
  • Capsule Pitch Description: National bookstore chain typically found in shopping malls.
  • Implementation: B. Dalton was started in 1966 by Minneapolis-based department store chain Dayton's. Waldenbooks started in 1933 as a book rental center which operated in various department stores, and opened its first actual bookstore in Pennsylvania in 1962.
• Barnes & Noble / Borders, Books-A-Million
  • Capsule Pitch Description: National bookstore chain with coffee bar. Sometimes, but not often, found in shopping malls.
  • Implementation: Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million were founded in 1917, Borders in 1971.
• S.S. Kresge / F.W. Woolworth
  • Capsule Pitch Description: National dime store chain.
  • Implementation: Founded in 1899 and 1879, respectively. Woolworth is the more iconic of the two.
• Kmart / Walmart, Target
  • Capsule Pitch Description: National-to-international discount retail chain.
  • Implementation: All three founded in 1962, a year that brought literally dozens of competitors. Kmart was founded as a division of S. S. Kresge dime stores (see above), Target as a division of Minnesota-based Dayton's department store, and Walmart mostly by itself.
• Costco / Sam's Club
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Warehouse club store; buying a membership allows deep-discount purchasing at your will.
  • Implementation: Both founded in 1983.
• GameStop / EB Games
  • Capsule Pitch Description: International video game chain.
  • Implementation: EB Games was founded in 1971 as an electronics store; GameStop began in 1984 as Babbage's.
• Linens 'n Things / Bed Bath & Beyond
  • Capsule Pitch Description: National housewares chain.
  • Implementation: Linens 'n Things was founed in 1975, Bed Bath & Beyond in 1971.
• Circuit City / Best Buy
  • Capsule Pitch Description: National electronics chain.
  • Implementation: Circuit City began in 1949 as a television store called Wards (no relation to Montgomery Ward) and opened its first electronics store in 1984. The first Best Buy opened in 1983, coming from the ashes of a defunct music store called Sound of Music.
• The Home Depot / Lowe's
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Home improvement superstore chains.
  • Implementation: Home Depot began in Marietta, Georgia in 1978; Lowe's began in North Carolina in 1946 as a traditional hardware format, but adopted the superstore format in the 1980s to compete better against Home Depot.
• Ace Hardware / True Value, Do It Best
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Hardware co-operatives usually found in smaller towns.
  • Implementation: Ace was founded in 1924, True Value in 1948 (both in Chicago), while Do It Best was founded as Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. (HWI) in 1945 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
• HMV / Virgin Megastores (later Zavvi), Our Price
  • Capsule Pitch Description: UK-based record (and later video, DVD and game) retailers.
  • Implementation: HMV was the first to be formed, springing up in the 1930s, while the other two were founded in the 1960s.
• Dollar General / Family Dollar
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Variety store chain that can be found just about anywhere, from the smallest rural towns to densely-populated inner urban areas.
  • Implementation: Dollar General was founded in 1939 in Tennessee; Family Dollar in 1959 in North Carolina.
• Walgreens / CVS Pharmacy, Rite Aid
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Drugstore chain
  • Implementation: Walgreens began in Chicago in 1901. CVS began in Massachusetts in 1967, and was part of the former Melville Corporation^note former owners of the off-price clothing store Marshalls, plus several defunct retail chains such as Thom McAn, Foxmoor Casuals, Wilsons Leather, KB Toys, and Linens 'n Things for many years. Rite Aid began as Thrif D Discount, a health and beauty store, in Pennsylvania in 1962 and added parmacies six years later.
• Montgomery Ward / Sears, Roebuck and Co.
  • Capsule Pitch Description: 19th Century mail-order companies that developed physical department stores in the 20th Century.
  • Implementation: Montgomery Ward was founded in 1873, and opened their first physical store in 1926. Sears published their first catalogs in 1888, and the first stores were opened in 1925.

Vehicles

• Ford / Chevrolet
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Mass-produced cars for regular people.
  • Implementation: Chevy brought color and variety and forced Ford away from an "as long as it's black" policy toward the frequent model changes that defined the golden age of American cars.
• Electro-Motive Division (EMD) E and F series / Alco P and F series, Fairbanks-Morse Consolidated series, and Baldwin Babyface/Sharknose series
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Streamlined diesel-electric locomotives of the 1940s and 1950s.
  • Implementation: EMD designed the E-series passenger diesels and F-series freight diesels to replace steam engines on main-line trains. It introduced the F-series prototype, the FT, in 1939. Alco introduced the P and F series diesels in 1946 to compete with EMD. Fairbanks-Morse was an engine supplier that wanted to become a major locomotive builder and created the Consolidated series to fill the "streamlined main-line engine" market sector.
• Pontiac Fiero / Toyota MR2
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RMR layout) sports cars of The '80s, packing the style of a contemporary Ferrari or Lamborghini with an affordable price and good fuel economy.
  • Implementation: The Fiero was released first in 1984, the first (and only) mass-produced American mid-engine car, but Executive Meddling at GM had it nerfed with the "Iron Duke" 4-cylinder engine and marketed as an economy car to avoid cannibalizing the Chevrolet Corvette, as opposed to John DeLorean's original vision for a Corvette-beating supercar. Toyota released the MR2 the following model year, to much acclaim, but the 1985 Fiero now offered a GT version with a more powerful V6 engine.

Unsorted

• Fender Musical Instruments Corporation / Gibson Guitar Corporation
  • Capsule Pitch Description: Manufacturers of solid-body electric guitars.
  • Implementation: In the 1950s, the Gibson Les Paul, The Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster were the three primary solid-body electric guitars on the market. Since then, both companies have expanded their product lineup and landed nearly every big-name guitarist since the 1960s as endorsers.

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