So, you thought you would not face the Asian hordes in your lifetime. No such luck. The hordes will soon be connected to the Web — for free.
You won’t be. They will be.
They will be able to say those powerful words: “I’ll do it a lot cheaper.”
The price of Asian-made smart phones keeps falling: around $200 today. Soon, they will be $100. Then $50. Then . . . “I’ll do it a lot cheaper.”
If it’s digital, it can be outsourced.
Here is what is about to happen
In classical mythology, Aquila is the eagle carrying Jupiter’s thunderbolts skyward.
At Facebook, it is the code name for a high-flying drone, indicative of the social networking company’s lofty ambitions.
The V-shaped unmanned vehicle, which has about the wingspan of a Boeing 767 but weighs less than a small car, is the centrepiece of Facebook’s plans to connect with the 5 billion or so people it has yet to reach. Taking to the skies to beam Internet access down from solar-powered drones may seem like a stretch for a tech company that sells ads to make money.
The business model at Facebook, which has 1.4 billion users, has more in common with NBC’s than Boeing’s. But in a high-stakes competition for domination of the Internet, in which Google wields high-altitude balloons and high-speed fiber networks and Amazon has experimental delivery drones and colossal data centres, Facebook is under pressure to show that it, too, can pursue projects that are more speculative than product.
Free Internet connections: think about this.
Open borders? They’re already here: the Internet.
Outsourcing is going to get a lot cheaper. The division of labor is going to make consumers a lot richer . . . if they have jobs.
Satchel Paige was right: “Don’t look back. Something may be gaining on you.” Instead, look up.
(For the rest of the story, click the link.)
