Digital divide
President Obama doesn’t know how to work an iPod, but there’s no doubt he appreciates the iconic device as an example of American ingenuity at its best. After all, Apple has sold more than 260 million iPods worldwide, and the U.S. president himself proudly gave one as a gift from the American people to England’s Queen Elizabeth.1
Although our country has lost manufacturing jobs to foreign countries, the vision and innovation behind American products (for the most part) originates in the United States. For example, iPods are assembled abroad by non-American workers, but the back of every iPod boasts: “Designed by Apple in California.”
Could our standing as technological innovation leaders erode? Of course — especially when it comes to the Internet.
Internet connection speeds in the United States are about four times as slow as the world’s leaders.2 It won't be long before we simply don't have the bandwidth to do functions the rest of the developed world does everyday.
In addition, we’ve fallen in global rankings from 1st to 15th in “broadband penetration,” with only about 65 percent of Americans having coverage, compared to more than 90 percent in parts of Asia and Europe.
These are two distinct problems:
The U.S. does not require broadband providers to share the cables that carry Internet signals into people's homes. For new companies to enter the market, they’d have to dig up every road or somehow re-wire every home — a prohibitive cost.
I don't know what the Internet will look like in 5 years or in 50 years. But it's clear the next major Internet innovation will take place abroad. In the process, we'll lose much more than simply bragging rights — we'll lose good jobs.
1As it happened, the queen already had one. Ooops.
2And for nearly twice the price, according to Slate.
3Okay, fine. It doesn't suck. But in the developed world, we're far behind the pack.
Although our country has lost manufacturing jobs to foreign countries, the vision and innovation behind American products (for the most part) originates in the United States. For example, iPods are assembled abroad by non-American workers, but the back of every iPod boasts: “Designed by Apple in California.”
Could our standing as technological innovation leaders erode? Of course — especially when it comes to the Internet.
Internet connection speeds in the United States are about four times as slow as the world’s leaders.2 It won't be long before we simply don't have the bandwidth to do functions the rest of the developed world does everyday.
In addition, we’ve fallen in global rankings from 1st to 15th in “broadband penetration,” with only about 65 percent of Americans having coverage, compared to more than 90 percent in parts of Asia and Europe.
These are two distinct problems:
- A third of Americans don't have broadband.
- The broadband that’s available to us sucks.3
The U.S. does not require broadband providers to share the cables that carry Internet signals into people's homes. For new companies to enter the market, they’d have to dig up every road or somehow re-wire every home — a prohibitive cost.
I don't know what the Internet will look like in 5 years or in 50 years. But it's clear the next major Internet innovation will take place abroad. In the process, we'll lose much more than simply bragging rights — we'll lose good jobs.
1As it happened, the queen already had one. Ooops.
2And for nearly twice the price, according to Slate.
3Okay, fine. It doesn't suck. But in the developed world, we're far behind the pack.
