Beyond the Jipp Curve

The Jipp Curve proves that there is a relationship between telephone density (teledensity) and the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country.   Back then, data showed that richer countries had higher penetration and use of telephone lines.

With the introduction of Smartphones a little more than decade ago, the Jipp Curve has been turned over its head, and Smartphone growth is spreading faster than any other previous technological innovation.  Some other incredible facts, taken from Dan Pink's blog:

• In 2006, smart phones accounted for just 6% of U.S. mobile phones sold that year. Today, "smart phones represent more than two-thirds of all U.S. mobile-phone sales."

• "In 1982, there were 4.6 billion people in the world, and not a single mobile-phone subscriber. Today, there are seven billion people in the world — and six billion mobile cellular-phone subscriptions." Of those subscriptions, 73 percent are now in the developing world, even though those countries account for just 20 percent of the world's GDP."

• Right now the world has 1.4 billion PCs in use. "Mobile phones, on the other hand, are already selling more than 1.4 billion units every single year."

Even if the world's connectedness will continue to bring enormous benefits to mankind, I wonder when being online, all the time, will overwhelm us to the point of saying, enough!

It is incredible to think about how two decades ago, without internet and Smartphones, everything worked well.  I guess every generation asks this question at a given point in time. 

Means I'm getting old, I guess.