I'm thoroughly convinced one of the strategies of large tech companies is to suck all the air out of the room when it comes to engineer talent.

I've seen the inside of these corporations - most of the stuff people work on is way below their pay grade (even if it still technically needs to get done) yet they still have a ridiculously rigorous interview process and somehow manage to hire like crazy with salaries and benefits way better than a startup can offer. It just doesn't make sense unless the goal is to deprive potential up and coming competitors of talent.

I don't think that strategy is very effective though. The supply of developers is quite elastic in the long term and it just drives competitors to increase their engineering efficiency.

Also to pay more than they would normally.

Sry what?

Google has enough very good products which shows what Google is doing.

Yes they have some issues with wave, talk, hangout and duo but also have gmail, search, drive, etc.

Apple not always gets it right and Google also.