Is there such thing as a true competitive advantage?

Sure. But just like "first mover" and location, they can be eroded, over time, by competitors and substitutes. There is no such thing as a permanent competitive advantage... unless you hold a government supported monopoly. And I guess, even that's not necessarily permanent.

There are 7 sources of Competitive Advantage:

Superior Inputs, Technology, Operations, Offering, Access, Segmentation, Customers.

Lately, this thinking is complemented with the Value Disciplines: Superior Operations, Product, or Customer Intimacy

Normally, a company will have one of the three. So, an Amazon has fantastic operations (with their direct from manufacturer) that enable them to compete. They're starting to get into the customer intimacy with personalization and recommendations, but it's not as good as its execution. Wal-Mart too have superior operations.

A good product example could be Coke-Cola or Pepsi...

If you think about it, you can find many examples of the 7 sources or the 3 value disciplines.

Of course there is, i mean look at iPod's success. They put a choke hold on the portable music/video industry and pretty much revived the music industry with its online store. I'm pretty sure they weren't the first mover in their category, but they played their cards right by making it trendy to have using celebrity endorsements and the such...

Also by releasing iTunes and only making it compatible with iPod's they managed to dominate the computer mp3 player category as well....

In short they legally monopolized the music industry.

there is no such component as a loose lunch. it would not remember how someone got here into posession of an merchandise someone someplace has paid a fee for the object. Be it the food of a lunch or the liberty we style of on a daily basis, there has been a fee paid.

Yes, it's like when I play basketball against my friend Jerry. I beat him badly everytime.

Greed!

Yes - it's called your Google rank.

sure, there is experience, who you know, previous and current clients, all kinds of things