Why Software is Eating the World
Newspapers have also used digital delivery to expand reach.
Andreessen focuses on businesses that are replacing their older counterparts, such as Netflix’s DVD mail delivery business which killed in-store movie rentals, and subsequently digital delivery which is now replacing mail delivery. Amazon has seen a similar transition where books are now sold for the Kindle device, in digital form.
The iTunes AppStore and music store are both digital. Skype is challenging traditional telecom companies while the likes of iPhone and Android devices are replacing the older mobile companies such as Motorola and Samsung. In fact, The Express Tribune itself is a fine success story of a newspaper that has used digital delivery to achieve accelerated awareness and market reach.
Adreessen’s article touches on the status-quo but misses some of the finer points of “why” the software revolution is so potent.
Hardware is, as the name implies, physical nuts and bolts and advanced materials. Software, by contrast is pliable. The iPhone, essentially is a powerful piece of software in a hard shell casing. It can be loaded with applications and updated on a regular basis. The software engineers behind it type up new lines of software code and push features out to consumers. Newspapers which traditionally got printed in presses, got packaged and rolled out in delivery vans every morning can be sent directly to your handheld device in an instant.
But software also scales really well. Lots of businesses have switched to Sales Force type services which offer internet-based software for managing business tasks such as customer management and payroll management. With each update Sales Force makes to its software, all its users can reap the benefits. And Sales Force gets constant feedback through which it continually updates its software all the while serving millions of businesses all of whom get the updates instantly.
Software is also extremely collaborative. The internet is the biggest collaborative undertaking humanity has ever seen. Entire communities are coming together and interacting with one another. For corporations, the entire enterprise communication has gained heightened awareness. Walmart uses software to automatically place orders with suppliers, determine hot trending products, granular sales data and performance analytics.
Millions of software developers worldwide can and do contribute to revolution out of their bedrooms. Open source software is an unprecedented intellectual collaboration. It is what WikiPedia is to information collaboration, only it’s a lot more precise and evolutionary.
With constant connectivity to the internet and complex social graphs and networks, software is the glue that binds it altogether.
The writer heads Online Strategy and Development at Express Media and can be contacted at aleem.bawany@express.com.pk
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2011.