Meeker, tell us something we don’t know: boring truths of 2015’s internet report
Through the use of internet graphs, the annual trend report offers pearls of insight, such as the recent rise in internet use across the world and that companies like Uber face regulatory problems
Mary Meeker's internet trend report has wowed critics, but left Tom Bailey feeling rather underwhelmed. Source: James Duncan Davidson/O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Every year Mary Meeker, a veteran internet analyst, releases her annual internet trend report. In May 2015, Meeker, in partnership with venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, released her twentieth such document, detailing the latest fashions in all things internet. Technology journals are generally full of praise for the report, detailing how insightful the collection of data is. One tech journalism website goes so far as to tell readers that if they “want to understand tech, Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends reports are the closest [they will] get to gospel.” Yet while the article presents some interesting information in a clear and concise manner, much of the trends identified are common knowledge. Here are the report’s top five obvious trends.
More people are using the internet
In case you missed it, a global system connecting computers across the world has seen dramatic growth in the previous two decades. Known as the ‘the internet,’ this technology allows information to be shared from far-flung corners of the world at breakneck speeds. The report reveals that whereas in 1995, only 0.6 percent of the world’s population – roughly 35 million people – had access to the internet, a full 2.8 billion people are connected to it today. Much of this growth has come from emerging centres of the world economy: China and India.
Phones are more popular
Just as with the internet, more people today have mobile phones than in the past, with population penetration rising from one percent to 73 percent, between 1994 and 2015. While none of 1994’s one percent had smartphones (perhaps because they had not yet been invented), they account for 40 percent of mobile phones in use today. Unsurprisingly, the large emerging economies account for the bulk of smartphone user growth, with Brazil, China and India racing ahead. It is also revealed that people are using their smartphones to watch more videos and read news than before.
The internet has had a big impact on business and consumers
The report includes a section, using pie charts, to estimate the impact of the internet on use and outcomes of certain sectors of the American economy. These odd pie charts, with slices of blue showing the extent of internet impact per sector, show that the consumer and business sectors have been impacted a lot (specific numbers or measurements are absent), alluding to the rise of ecommerce and use of email in the workplace perhaps. Government and policy thinking, despite the best efforts of some at Silicon Valley, have been more resistant to internet “disruption.”
Internet-based companies have reduced barriers to entry
According to Meeker, “[s]etting up export businesses historically required significant investment.” Presumably this investment refers to the high cost of a supply chain, with shipping or freight containers. Now websites such as eBay mean people can sell people their old stuff (an export business, apparently) anywhere in the world. Likewise, the costly business of becoming a registered landlord can be sidestepped by signing up to Airbnb, while SoundCloud allows you to distribute audio “within minutes,” although there is no guarantee anyone will listen to it. Just to make sure it is clear why people are renting out their spare rooms or selling unwanted gifts at online auctions, Mary Meeker helpfully points out that “people typically use online platforms to find extra income.”
New app-based businesses pose complications for regulations
Some business regulators are struggling to classify how drivers for taxi apps like Uber and Lyft are categorised, as they do not fit neatly into the category of worker or independent contractor. The report quotes a California judge, arguing that “the 20th Century [regulations] for classifying workers [are not] very helpful in addressing this 21st Century problem.” Airbnb is also facing issues with local renting laws that govern short term lets and hotels. Again, the brave new world of 21st century innovation is contrasted with the supposedly moribund regulation of the 20th, with Airbnb cofounder and CEO quoted as saying “these laws feel a little bit outdated. They’re really 20th-century laws, and we’re in a 21st-century economy.”
