The Future As Seen By Me In 2010

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Well looky here, things one has scanned in eh. (ignore the photo, that's some guy that made some accounting software, not sure what became of him ;) MIKE RIVERSDALE is fuming. The expensive headphones he bought in Sydney three weeks ago have just died. His first reaction is not to randomly spill expletives into his coffee, but to use his iPhone to vent his frustration to his Twitter con- tacts, under the moniker Miramar Mike. "I will also put, 'What should I do?' It's a conversation. I'm reaching out to the people following me." The council predicts hand-held digital devices such as smartphones will rule the world in 2040. They already rule the life of Mr Riversdale, whose company WaveAdept helps businesses adapt - their computing sys- tems to allow staff to work from anywhere - and with anyone. In order of fre- equency, he uses his iPhone to tweet (1136 followers; 8363 tweets since joining), e-mail, make phone calls and use online services, such as checki
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"Everyone" On The Internet Isn't Always International

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Another in the series, "No, the Internet isn't international" - pt1, pt2, pt3

Google released it's Google Voice service with the headline, Google Voice for everyone.
Of course the 'everyone' referenced was 'everyone in the USA' ... check out the blog comments.

It is actually a serendipitous discovery for Google that a) they are a no-borders company; b) their Google Voice service is obviously eagerly awaited all around the planet.

"No-borders company" ... hmm, actually no, they are not. They are legally a USA company with the majority of their staff working within the US. They have (large) satellite offices around the world that feed back to the main US corporation. Their services are perceived as being ubiquitous and global but even that perception is false - you can't get a blogger account in China, never have been able to.

So, OK, Google isn't global but the perception is that they "think global".
The same for Facebook ("credits", one monetary system for the whole planet anyone), Amazon and all the other major Internet players.

But they don't.
When it comes down to it they are local US companies staffed by local US people that, naturally, think everyone else is awake when they are and goes to sleep when they do.

Perception != reality

Comments

  1. Bill Bennett23 June 2010 at 09:51

    The headline betrays an arrogance that could harm Google over the long term. Nobody in New Zealand assumes everyone is just the local population.

    ReplyDelete
  2. richard s23 June 2010 at 10:05

    I love the way Amazon (who *know* where I live and who *know* I've never had anything shipped to an address in the USA) is always very excited to offer me "Free Shipping on this Item !"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stuart Maxwell23 June 2010 at 11:48

    Also, the sheer arrogance of the US media who reported the news in the same way: http://stuartm.com/post/726170910/google-voice-not-for-everyone

    ReplyDelete

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