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by tivert 779 days ago
> Seems like a logical progression of technologies to me. You could throw FAX machines in there.

The implicit assumption seems to be the latter technologies in the list are strictly superior to the former, which is completely false. The article says this:

> Technological leapfrogging occurs when an industry or market (usually an outmoded industry or emerging market) skips a step along the technology transformation chain.

> Instead of learning to use a personal computer and then a mobile phone, you skip right to mobile. In many emerging markets, mobile is the dominant computing paradigm.

That kind of leapfrogging actually seems like a massive handicap. Mobile phones have severe limitations compared to PCs as devices for productive work.
2 comments
langsoul-com 779 days ago
It doesn't mean emerging markets don't use desktops or laptops. It means they won't be frozen on old tech.

Think mobile payments. South East Asia has mobile payments with 0% additional fees. Meanwhile the West is shackled to cards, adding 2-3% for what? Yet stuck with cards for a while due to not starting with mobile.

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tivert 779 days ago
> Think mobile payments. South East Asia has mobile payments with 0% additional fees.

If that's the case, how to the mobile payments companies make money?

> Meanwhile the West is shackled to cards, adding 2-3% for what? Yet stuck with cards for a while due to not starting with mobile.

IIRC, the 2-3% fees aren't due to technology, they're due to regulation and legal agreements. And it's mostly a spat between the merchants and banks, because most cards (in the US, at least) have "rewards" that remit a portion of those fees to the card user (e.g. all my cards pay me at least 1% cash back, and more in certain circumstances depending on the card).

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cmrdporcupine 779 days ago
My take: The author and people like them are just working on a teleological progression of the hype trains they've followed to chase investment $$.

I always have to remind myself that the motivations of the people involved in the tech industry today differ substantially from those from before the .com boom.

For many, "tech" doesn't actually mean the technology and its engineering applications. It's entirely the business and investment world and spin-land built as a huge shell around it. It doesn't matter if it "fails" from an engineering POV if a significant % of shareholders can grow a portfolio.

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