Sometimes I sympathize with Louis C.K. when I hear tech policy doomsayers complain about the wireless marketplace and the choice therein.
I don’t necessarily agree with the talented comic/entertainer about everything, or when he said a few years back, “Everything is amazing and nobody is happy.” Some people are happy. They are happy, and happier -- not for the advances made as companies in the wireless ecosystem fiercely compete, but because of them.
Let me explain.
Sure, there have been “amazing” wireless advances in the U.S., wonky as they may be. Such as:
- The U.S. has 140 separate local and regional providers in addition to the multiple national operators – all competing for your wireless business; no other country comes close.
- U.S. market, accounting for just 6% of global wireless subscribers, is a full 21% of all worldwide 3G subscribers.
- We’ve gone from 2G to 4G in just under ten years.
But I believe we’re all better off also because of other achievements, many hidden in plain sight. Just review for a moment how some of life’s basic pursuits are made exponentially better by advances in the mobile marketplace.
Family: I carry hundreds of pictures of my family in my pocket. No annoying plastic slipcovers in my wallet, barely visible through smudged semi-opaque polyvinyl -- just beautiful high res images stored digitally and ready to be (at times, annoyingly) shared with anyone who wishes to see them, anywhere they are.
Music: My entire music collection is in the same pocket. I couldn’t fit a ten CD holder in that same pocket but today it holds the equivalent of thousands of them.
Friends: I have the desire to check in with a high school friend and ask him the name of our 9th grade homeroom teacher while I’m waiting for the metro 100 feet below the street… So I just open Facebook on my smartphone. (Josh says it’s Mrs. Stoddard.)
Food: Where’s the best sushi around here? Just ask my Yelp app.
Art: Who’s the original sculptor of this post-modern statue? A scan with Google Goggles app and your built-in camera will tell you.
Faith: I’d like to hear amazing grace performed on bagpipes, or learn how to recite the Rosary right now. YouTube and Catholic One apps can help.
The value of these and countless other things our mobile devices can do can’t even be measured. How many dollars would it take to buy every Zagats guide the instant they were published? Where would I keep 11,549 CDs ready-to-be-played at a moment’s notice? How would I even begin to track down 9th grade trivia on a subway?
Mr. CK says “Everything is amazing.” It makes my head spin to even conceive of the advances we live amongst today, and yet I can’t wait to see what today’s “advances” look like in the rear view mirror of what is coming tomorrow.
No human creation is perfect, but I find it hard to disagree with the notion, Everything IS amazing… and it’s just getting better.