
Hands up, who would feel lost without their mobile device? Now, hands up who still keeps in contact the old-fashioned, snail mail way? I garner not a lot.
But technology doesn’t always work – what happens then? The amount of times a train breaks down or a tripped wire plunges your house into darkness is astounding. Many would no doubt agree that even the amazing solutions and products produced by technology come with some aggravating flaws. Two months ago, the Real Business offices came to a standstill thanks to a major outage at our data centre. No internet connection, no phone lines, but plenty of journalists squinting over the tiny screens of their mobile phones to use the web. As a digital magazine, we had a problem. Then again, most businesses would feel a little helpless without an internet connection. It’s not so easy to pull out a stack of papers and files from the bookshelves and continue on our merry way anymore. The effect of an outage, even for only a few hours, will show on a company’s balance sheets. Yet technological innovation still continually upgrades outdated business models.Here are some examples of how technology has pulled us away from one product to the next, effectively influencing the downfall and rise of “empires”.
Music
The vinyl record and cassette tape are now a rare find because of the CD: it’s easier to maintain, find and use in a range of devices such as disc-men or even your car. But where is the CD heading now? As technology adapted to produce a better sound quality and create more space for songs, consumers scrambled to get the latest inventions, such as the iPod and mp3. By using these compact and portable devices, those long towers of CD covers taking over the living room floor could finally be thrown away to reveal a carpet!Video
The video tape is a thing of the past – who can remember the last time they saw a store that sold them, let alone someone that owned one. The DVD was the next great invention to the video world as the CD was to the cassette. Even then, the DVD has gone through a complex evolution process that will probably exterminate what we know as the average DVD. Though the changes are slow, more people are attracted to the ever-increasingly popular blue-ray – still a DVD, but one of better quality than its predecessor. And what of the 3D DVD? It’s still a new concept, but it’s been reaping positive results so far. The greatest nemesis for a video rental store is piracy and they seem to be fighting a losing battle. Stores such as Blockbuster are closing their doors due to the lack of video rentals and increasing downloading and streaming from websites. It’s companies such as Netflix, which ship right to your door, and LoveFilm that are still thriving in this environment. At a cheap price per month, you can flick through a vast variety of movies from your seat in front of the TV. The film industry will probably never fade as updated graphics and sound are constantly changing the quality of movies, however, perhaps the most surprising attribute is its influence on theatres. Due to the amount of people streaming over the web, fewer people have started going to the cinema. Why wait for a movie you wish to see hit the big screen when you can watch it as soon as it’s released on the internet?Media
With the greatest risk of falling behind, the media industry has gradually begun to see a change.Share this story