Diffuse Co-evolution
Diffuse coevolution means evolving against many species simultaneously, not one competitor. Apple/Google/Samsung each respond to the others' moves, plus developers, carriers, and regulators—the strategy web defies pairwise analysis.
Many-on-many interaction where multiple species interact without single pairwise relationships dominating. Tropical ant-plant mutualisms illustrate this: many plant species provide nesting structures and food to ants, and ants defend plants against herbivores. Individual plant species host multiple ant species, and individual ant species inhabit multiple plant species. More robust than pairwise (one partner's extinction doesn't doom the other) but produces less extreme adaptations.
Business Application of Diffuse Co-evolution
Diffuse co-evolution describes markets with multiple competitors and partners where no single relationship dominates strategy. More resilient but with less specialized advantages than pairwise relationships.