The Churning of Our Digital Lifestyles

So its finally happening in India as well…mobiles phones doubling up as a payment mechanism (Now, pay with your cellphones). Just a couple of months ago, I was scouting around to find if this was possible in India (for a prospective business idea). I was disappointed to learn that it wasn’t; however I conjectured that it would not take more than six months for this to surface. I have been proven wrong. Credit card companies had better watch out, for this competitor has the potential to yank the carpet from under their feet.

This is the stark reality of today’s world.Technology,which till yesterday was a key differentiator,is now proving to be a great leveler.Product manufacturers and service providers typically guard against the threat of new entrants in their industry and try to put up entry barriers. However, how does one tackle the threat of being simply substituted out of business from the most unexpected of quarters? Michael Porter foresaw this trend two decades ago and enshrined this in his 5 Forces Model of Competitive Analysis by dilineating the threat of substitutes from the threat of new entrants.

This is leading to a constant churning in our digital lifestyles with product life cycles getting shortened. Consumers often find themselves burdened with the task of choosing from a plethora of disparate choices & preferences for buying a particular product or service. Some of the most notable substitutions that come to my mind are as follows –

Typewriters being substituted by computers two decades ago
Parcels getting substituted by couriers
Snail-mails getting substituted by email
Faxes getting substituted by a combination of scanners+email
Wristwatches getting obviated due to presence of cellphone
Travel agencies losing business to online/SMS based railway/air ticketing
Stock Brokers losing business to online share trading
Alarm Clocks getting substituted by cellphones
Digital Diary becoming obsolete due to multifunctional cellphones
Phones calls/email getting partly substituted by SMS
Digital Cameras getting substituted by camera cellphones
Music Casettes/CDs getting substituted by IPOD
International Phone Calls getting substituted by VOIP( read Skype )

So what’s the next big substitution shaping up in the technology world….Microsoft Windows getting substituted by a Google client-server modeled OS ?

Did I hear the geeks say ‘amen’ ?