The word of the year is "uncertainty"
Has technology won the pandemic or not? We probably won't be able to tell for a while.
CreditCredit...By Gabriel Gabriel GarbleMore than two years into Pandemic Times, the technology is more popular, more powerful, and richer than it was before. Where is it?
This year - and especially the last few weeks - has complicated what was a fairly simple understanding of how most of the tech industry and American digital superstars were going.
Repeatedly over the past year my colleagues and I have written that technology is the undisputed winner of the economy bizarre pandemic. People and businesses needed what tech companies were selling, and this increased reliance allowed tech stars to grow faster and become far more profitable than Silicon Valley nerds could have imagined. Crazy dollars. A+.
Now I think this note should be revised to incomplete. Some of the trends of 2020 and 2021 – including more work, shopping, product marketing, entertainment and socializing online – have started to recede. With hindsight, we do not know how much the digital boom of those years was a jolt and how much an acceleration of lasting technological transformations was.
This uncertainty, coupled with inflation and weakening economies, makes it difficult to understand what is happening in technology today or even to assess the past two years. We may be on the cusp of a great moment for technology or the start of a tough time for their products and finances. Let me repeat what should be the mantra of 2022: no one knows.
Some technology leaders exude confidence in their future, while others others ooze with anxiety. It's almost as if they live in two separate realities. And maybe they do.
In one area is the land of Big Tech, with emperors like Microsoft, Google, Amazon (maybe ), Apple (maybe) and a few others in fortresses looking down on us.
Google and Microsoft revenue continued to rise from what seemed to be their unsustainable digital advertising and software sales in 2021. Both companies said this week they were happy with their outlook, but also warned of trouble ahead.
On Tuesday, Google executives said the word "uncertainty" or some variation of it 13 times during a conference call with investors. The company said it would start to become evident in 2023 that Google was slowing down hiring. Planning a spending plan so many months in advance is a sign that the company does not expect to ride out what could be a US recession and other global issues.
Has technology won the pandemic or not? We probably won't be able to tell for a while.
CreditCredit...By Gabriel Gabriel GarbleMore than two years into Pandemic Times, the technology is more popular, more powerful, and richer than it was before. Where is it?
This year - and especially the last few weeks - has complicated what was a fairly simple understanding of how most of the tech industry and American digital superstars were going.
Repeatedly over the past year my colleagues and I have written that technology is the undisputed winner of the economy bizarre pandemic. People and businesses needed what tech companies were selling, and this increased reliance allowed tech stars to grow faster and become far more profitable than Silicon Valley nerds could have imagined. Crazy dollars. A+.
Now I think this note should be revised to incomplete. Some of the trends of 2020 and 2021 – including more work, shopping, product marketing, entertainment and socializing online – have started to recede. With hindsight, we do not know how much the digital boom of those years was a jolt and how much an acceleration of lasting technological transformations was.
This uncertainty, coupled with inflation and weakening economies, makes it difficult to understand what is happening in technology today or even to assess the past two years. We may be on the cusp of a great moment for technology or the start of a tough time for their products and finances. Let me repeat what should be the mantra of 2022: no one knows.
Some technology leaders exude confidence in their future, while others others ooze with anxiety. It's almost as if they live in two separate realities. And maybe they do.
In one area is the land of Big Tech, with emperors like Microsoft, Google, Amazon (maybe ), Apple (maybe) and a few others in fortresses looking down on us.
Google and Microsoft revenue continued to rise from what seemed to be their unsustainable digital advertising and software sales in 2021. Both companies said this week they were happy with their outlook, but also warned of trouble ahead.
On Tuesday, Google executives said the word "uncertainty" or some variation of it 13 times during a conference call with investors. The company said it would start to become evident in 2023 that Google was slowing down hiring. Planning a spending plan so many months in advance is a sign that the company does not expect to ride out what could be a US recession and other global issues.
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