My vision of the future is one where most people own far fewer physical goods.
Google imagines a future in which we don’t own cars. Self-driving taxis will replace car ownership. In Seattle, many people rent bikes. There are bike rental stands scattered around the city. I rent movies and music from Amazon and Netflix, paying a subscription fee for streaming. I imagine a future where we don’t own things; we rent them. This cellphone is my fourth cellphone. The previous three cellphones did not break, they simply became out-of-date. It doesn’t make sense to own a cellphone when it will be obsolete in a year.
Yes, goods and services are moving into the cloud and becoming less tangible, but there is a parallel and related trend away from ownership and towards rental and subscription. Companies prefer rental and subscription, because it gives them a steady revenue stream, instead of a bursty stream.
My vision of the future is one where most people own far fewer physical goods.
Google imagines a future in which we don’t own cars. Self-driving taxis will replace car ownership. In Seattle, many people rent bikes. There are bike rental stands scattered around the city. I rent movies and music from Amazon and Netflix, paying a subscription fee for streaming. I imagine a future where we don’t own things; we rent them. This cellphone is my fourth cellphone. The previous three cellphones did not break, they simply became out-of-date. It doesn’t make sense to own a cellphone when it will be obsolete in a year.
Yes, goods and services are moving into the cloud and becoming less tangible, but there is a parallel and related trend away from ownership and towards rental and subscription. Companies prefer rental and subscription, because it gives them a steady revenue stream, instead of a bursty stream.