The US is a fascinating Internet market. And it hasn't played out yet.
Years ago, I was comparing prices on highspeed Internet between the US and Canada. It was more complicated than simply apples and oranges. The US idea of what highspeed was wasn't the same as my idea. What I thought was normal, wasn't even available across the border. I don't think things have changed very much. Today, I find it hard to imagine that there is a market for dialup... but yet I see the ads on the US channels selling it.
There is a small section of the population that gets it. I think, per capita, more Canadians get it than Americans - but that doesn't really matter in the North American market.
As far as the Internet goes, North America is still largely a vast sea of murky gray dialup or hobbled 'highspeed'. While other regions are starting the curve with 5+mbps, the US is counting angels and keeping the fiber dark. I'm just wondering when Net Neutrality is going to morph into some sort of protectionist debate. I'm curious what sort of innovations will come from those regions and how well will they penetrate the US market.
However... End of the Empire? Empire is about communication and organization. The speed and means of our communication has changed more than just a little bit from the Roman times. Empire of yesterday died with the British Empire. The risks to today's Empires are so different than they ever were, it begs the question "What can history teach us about today?" While things are very much the same, they are very much not the same. Empires still go to war but the control over propaganda is not what it was. I would not take any bet over the future of any current nation.
What I do predict is that while yesterday's language on the net was English, 明天我们都应该用中文写字呀！ Will North America loose out? Not if we can adapt. A key component of the Net Culture is the ability to adapt. Imaginative adaptiable North Americans will continue to very well. Borders won't matter very much... as long as the US doesn't get stupid and implement protectionist Internet policies.
www.cetuscript.com
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
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