Daily Times

It took 75 years for the landline telephone to reach 50 million users while radio took 38 years. In 13 years television reached 50 million users, however, Facebook took 3.5 years, Twitter took 9 months while Angry Birds game on Android and iOS took only 35 days. Advancements in science and technology aided by the assistance of the Internet has brought to the fore the human race to a new dimension in communication and lifestyle. Today, our lives are guided and controlled by the World Wide Web, Android and iOS applications that are continuing to change, alter and revolution our thought process, decision-making and how we perceive the world.

Science has changed the fabric of human social consciousness that was once led by man’s desire to manually complete tasks. This need has now been replaced by clicks and touching buttons on s gadgets. However, amidst this revolution has emerged a mysterious yet interesting aspect of how businesses generate revenue while using the Internet and digital platforms. While doing so, businesses have been delivering a service or product but it does not own what they sell. Take Uber for instance.

The US-based world’s largest taxi company does not own any taxi. Users download Uber’s application on to their smartphones and book a taxi through it while the taxi driver, also with the same application, connects with his passengers. This concept was merely a dream or an impossible blueprint but soon became a reality. Five years earlier, Mark Zuckerberg’s idea of Facebook emerged as a social media platform that redefined how digital communication took place. Today, Facebook stands as the world’s most powerful social media owner with a plethora of content in the form of text, audio, video, and images. Despite this, it does not create a single piece of such content for all is developed and shared by the users, which are over 2 billion at the end of 2017.

There is something interesting happening in the world for which the digital media is providing the foundation of this development. There was once a time when companies offering hospitality services including guest houses and hotels would physically construct buildings across cities and countries. Today, Airbnb, an American company, hosts an online marketplace for those who require rooms, apartments, hotels, and hostels on a short-term basis. By the end of 2017, Airbnb had over three million lodgings listed across 191 countries and over 65,000 cities.

Airbnb owns no real estate but is the world’s largest accommodation provider. Companies offering the largest number of products or services do not own the tangible aspects. This shift in business strategy and product development emerged when the human’s entrepreneurial vision, pursuit to suffice a societal need and ability to use digital technology in problem-solving became the call of the day. It was from this question of “What, How, Why and When” did transpire human’s innate desire to create something that could provide ease of life.

Companies unearthing the miracles of digital technology have learnt how to connect consumers with consumers, businesses with businesses and consumers with businesses by utilizing the power of Android and iOS applications and software

The magic of creating everything out of nothing lies in a number of factors. First, companies unearthing the miracles of digital technology have realized how to connect consumers with consumers, businesses with businesses and consumers with businesses by utilizing the power of Android and iOS applications and software.

A case in point is Alibaba Group, a Chinese e-commerce platform. Through its various websites and platforms operating in many countries, the company operates as an intermediary between sellers and buyers to interact through online transactions of goods and money. With a net income of US$6.2 billion in 2017 and total assets worth US$76.28 billion (2017), Alibaba’s online transactions have generated more revenue over the years than eBay and Amazon combined. Two decades ago, did we ever imagine a company offering retail services would not have a single inventory?

It would have been a joke and the idea would be mocked and laughed upon. However, today, companies are providing products and services without even producing them or keeping inventory in warehouses. Similarly, Bitcoin has recently gained global recognition for its high-value currency and profit it gave to its customers. It is a system of crypto currency and worldwide payment system offering decentralized digital currency that is actually a bank but owns no currency. At the moment, 1 Bitcoin equals to PKR 1505473 (US$ 13599.51). Did we ever wonder we would live in a world where business models, ideology, and strategies will have such a seismic shift that they would revolutionize how businesses are done and that companies claiming to be the largest in their domain would not own any tangible aspect of their product or service? The digital era will soon bring new and unheard of possibilities that will recreate our perception of life and career.

The writer is a columnist and an author

Published in Daily Times, January 18^th 2018.