The past year has been grim, solitary, and deeply traumatic. For the tech industry it’s been all those things, plus hugely lucrative. Silicon Valley has long specialized in technologies that compete with face-to-face social interaction, and this year the competition disappeared. “The pandemic has allowed us to test hypotheses that we were considering but have never dared testing fully,” says Diego Comin, a professor of economics at Dartmouth University who studies technology adoption. “Remote learning, massive virtual conferencing, leisure that has a large digital component. Because we don’t have any other alternative now, we had to try them with a positive attitude.” The companies behind those technologies—Zoom, Slack, DoorDash, Netflix, and Amazon, to name a few—have seen business go nuts amid a broader economic meltdown. But at some point, maybe even this year, things will start going back to normal. What happens then is an enormous unknown for the industry. Which of these new tools will keep their value when human contact is no longer freighted with contagion and death? Here are a few hypotheses.
Esta historia es de la edición January 25, 2021 de Bloomberg Businessweek.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición January 25, 2021 de Bloomberg Businessweek.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Instagram's Founders Say It's Time for a New Social App
The rise of AI and the fall of Twitter could create opportunities for upstarts
Running in Circles
A subscription running shoe program aims to fight footwear waste
What I Learned Working at a Hawaiien Mega-Resort
Nine wild secrets from the staff at Turtle Bay, who have to manage everyone from haughty honeymooners to go-go-dancing golfers.
How Noma Will Blossom In Kyoto
The best restaurant in the world just began its second pop-up in Japan. Here's what's cooking
The Last-Mover Problem
A startup called Sennder is trying to bring an extremely tech-resistant industry into the age of apps
Tick Tock, TikTok
The US thinks the Chinese-owned social media app is a major national security risk. TikTok is running out of ways to avoid a ban
Cleaner Clothing Dye, Made From Bacteria
A UK company produces colors with less water than conventional methods and no toxic chemicals
Pumping Heat in Hamburg
The German port city plans to store hot water underground and bring it up to heat homes in the winter
Sustainability: Calamari's Climate Edge
Squid's ability to flourish in warmer waters makes it fitting for a diet for the changing environment
New Money, New Problems
In Naples, an influx of wealthy is displacing out-of-towners lower-income workers