What boggles me a bit about the A380 vs the 747 is the 747 development was a bit of an accident based on 1960's era irrational exuberance. At the same time they were working on that they were trying to develop an SST. The SST was supposed to be the future of passenger aircraft. It failed and the 747's succeeded. And managed to side line some smaller competitors like the DC10.

But since it went into service no one built a comparable or larger aircraft for 30 years. And if there was a huge untapped market for super large passenger jets, why weren't more 747's in service?