THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Failure

“Failure is art of learning, and we have to enjoy that art.” by Abbas Pachmarhiwala

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Square, ATMs, and the Pace of Transformation

Remember how after Chemical Bank launched the first Automated Teller Machine in the 1960s, waves of bank branches shut down? And remember when banks went online, how waves of local bank branches shut down?

In both cases the new technology ended up augmenting, rather than replacing existing channels. This isn't unusual. Despite bold proclamations of industry transformation, legacy technologies often last for a very long time. For example, commercial telephony services emerged in the 1870s. Western Union, the day's leading telegraphy player, declined to invest in the new technology. Eventually telephone ended up being the cornerstone of AT&T*. But telegraphs were still viable commercial offerings as late as the 1960s. The last telegraph message was sent in...2005.

Read on...

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