ICYMI: Meeker Presentation Undermines Tech Critics’ Calls For Breakups
This week, Kleiner Perkins’ Mary Meeker released her annual Internet Trends presentation, which stands in stark contrast to much of the tech discussion in Washington and among self-interested VCs. The 295-slide deck delves into a number of topics, but can best be summarized by slide 43:
Robust R&D and industry investment, lower consumer prices, dynamic search and advertising markets, and competition from China undermine critics’ arguments for breaking up America’s leading tech services. Key charts are below.
#1 Both investment in the technology sector and R&D spending by tech companies themselves continues to be robust. (Slides 37-42)
#2 Online search is growing even more competitive. Meeker notes that voice technology has achieved “lift off,” and social media is increasingly becoming a source of product discovery as well, creating more direct-to-consumer businesses. (Slides 70-73)
#3 The technology sector has continued to drive consumer prices down in recent years. (Slides 110-113)
#4 Digital advertising continues to grow, but it still competes with TV, print, and radio advertising in the market for eyeballs. (Slides 95-97)
#5 America’s lead in the technology space is not a given. China’s tech sector is catching up quickly, with nine companies in the top 20 globally that are making real progress in artificial intelligence. (Slides 217-229)
#6 Technology disruption is accelerating, with cheaper computing power and storage capacity bringing more competition to the sector. (Slides 142-146)
#7 While data privacy is grabbing headlines, responsible use of personal and collective data is improving product experiences. (Slides 28-30)