We Are All Part of the Computing Industry Now

By now, we all are familiar with a set of key business model transitions. Products are becoming services while services are becoming apps.

Jay Fajardo, venture capitalist, Philippines

Manufacturing companies selling elevators or jet engines can move from selling those products once to providing ongoing service, said Chuck Robbins, Cisco CEO. That is an example of the “products become services” trend.

Over the top voice, messaging, audio, video and most other content is an example of the latter “services become apps” trend. Those trends have clear implications for service providers.

In fact, one can say that telecom now is part of the computing industry, and that the computing industry increasingly is about apps and services, not hardware.

Just as clearly, people want Internet access only because they want to use the apps that Internet access enables.

And with big new markets developing in consumer and business domains, just about every stakeholder--from government to service providers to app developers and infrastructure suppliers--is looking for the next big thing.

Right now, the Internet of Things, broadly defined, holds the most promise for app development of interest to ISPs and service providers, just as investors continually look for the next big wave of money-making apps consumers will embrace.

For that reason, for the first time, venture capitalists will speak at Spectrum Futures, to be held 19-21 October, 2016 in Singapore.