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The Internet Businesses Privacy

Mary Meeker's 2018 Internet Trends Report (recode.net) 33

Mary Meeker has published her anticipated internet trends report of 2018. This year, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner released 284 slides in rapid succession, covering everything from smartphone behavior in the U.S. to tech company competition in China. Some takeaways: 1. 2017 was the first year in which smartphone unit shipments didn't grow at all. As more of the world become smartphone owners, growth has been harder and harder to come by. The same goes for internet user growth, which rose 7 percent in 2017, down from 12 percent the year before. With more than half the world online, there are fewer people left to connect.
2. People, however, are still increasing the amount of time they spend online. U.S. adults spent 5.9 hours per day on digital media in 2017, up from 5.6 hours the year before. Some 3.3 of those hours were spent on mobile, which is responsible for overall growth in digital media consumption.
3. Despite the high-profile releases of $1,000 iPhones and Samsung Galaxy Notes, the global average selling price of smartphones is continuing to decline.
4. Mobile payments are becoming easier to complete. China continues to lead the rest of the world in mobile payment adoption, with over 500 million active mobile payment users in 2017.
5. Voice-controlled products like Amazon Echo are taking off. The Echo's installed base in the U.S. grew from 20 million in the third quarter of 2017 to more than 30 million in the fourth quarter.
6. Tech companies are facing a "privacy paradox." They're caught between using data to provide better consumer experiences and violating consumer privacy.
The most popular courses on learning platform Coursera last year were (in descending order): Machine Learning (Stanford), Neural Networks & Deeper Learning (Deeplearning.ai), Learning How to Learn: Powerful Mental Tools to Help You Master Tough Subjects (UC San Diego), Introduction to Mathematical Thinking (Stanford), Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Technologies (Princeton), Programming for Everybody (University of Michigan), Algorithms, Part I (Princeton), English for Career Development (University of Pennsylvania), Neural Networks / Machine Learning (University of Toronto), and Financial Markets (Yale).
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Mary Meeker's 2018 Internet Trends Report

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  • Who? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @12:49PM (#56700410)

    Who's Mary Meeker? And why should I care what some parasite organization thinks?

    • Give it as much creedence as you would "Gartner predicts...".
  • I always wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @12:56PM (#56700438) Journal

    ...how much of this is GENUINE analysis, how much is wish-fulfillment, and how much is just telling companies what they want to hear?

    5. Voice-controlled products like Amazon Echo are taking off. The Echo's installed base in the U.S. grew from 20 million in the third quarter of 2017 to more than 30 million in the fourth quarter. ....and that's it. I understand early-adopters will try anything, but I'm astonished that ANYONE wants what amounts to a live, recording surveillance device in their home.

    6. Tech companies are facing a "privacy paradox." They're caught between using data to provide better consumer experiences and violating consumer privacy. ....you mean they're caught between their BUSINESS PLAN (which included the monetization of private data) and violating consumer privacy?

    • Stock analysts aren't necessarily in the business of predicting future, rather they package and solidify existing "common sense" expectations of the market so that the actual business of investing and trading can go smoothly, until it doesn't.

    • by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @03:26PM (#56701476)

      YOU would be astonished by what many people do, because YOU know better. People, in general, don't know any better regarding a multitude of things, from sex to education to alcohol to entourage.
      Alexa privacy is somewhere close to the bottom of the pile.

  • by hackertourist ( 2202674 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @01:01PM (#56700458)

    Very few companies use my data to provide better consumer experiences. Amazon used to be one with its book recommendations. The majority just sell my data to the highest bidder instead.

    • by kbonin ( 58917 )
      Exactly - "provide better consumer experiences" is the modern euphemism / weasel words for "monetize everything we can which since it pays our bills and stockholders which in part will be used to 'provide better consumer experiences'".
  • by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @01:26PM (#56700638) Journal

    People, however, are still increasing the amount of time they spend online.

    That's not something to celebrate. :-(

    China continues to lead the rest of the world in mobile payment adoption

    Sure. One more way to track their citizens.

    Voice-controlled products like Amazon Echo are taking off.

    Sure. One more way to track our citizens. :-(

    Tech companies are facing a "privacy paradox." They're caught between using data to enhance their profits and violating consumer privacy.

    Fixed that for you. :-(

  • The big markets are India and China and android is big there.

    When you can pick up a Oneplus 6 for 1/3rd the price of an X, with the same feature set (on paper), no one in rational price sensitive market would buy a luxury phone.

    I'm a long term iPhone user but paying a premium for no headphone jack? Forget it.

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