I just took the time to read the slideshow presentation on this page:
https://www.kleinerperkins.com/perspectives/internet-trends-report-2018
Here are the bullet points I found most interesting.
- New smartphone shipments peaked in 2010 and there has been zero growth in that market in 2017.
- Internet users are now at approximately one half of the world’s population. Internet users have grown from 24% in 2009 to 49% of world population in 2017. This shows no curve, but a steady upward growth.
- Growth in the number of Internet users has dropped from 12% in 2016 to approximately 7% in 2017.
- Desktop/laptop users access digital media 2.1 hours per day average while Mobile device users are online 3.3 hours per day on average.
- Freelance workforce has grown three times faster than the rest of the workforce.
- On-demand workforce in USA was 2.4 million in 2015 and has steadily grown to 6.8 million in the first quarter of 2018.
- “AI is one of the most important things humanity is working on. It is more profound than electricity or fire… We have learned to harness fire for the benefits of humanity but we had to overcome its downsides too. AI is really important, but we have to be concerned about it.”
– Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, 2/18 - AI Competition in 2018 shows Google as clear leader. Microsoft and China working together in second place, while the next three spots are all Chinese companies.
- Natural Science and Engineering Education is much higher in China than the US.
- It is predicted that China will catch up to the USA in AI development within the next five years.
- Lifelong Learning is crucial in the evolving work environment.
- 55% of Freelancers updated their skills within the past six months.
- In-store shopping habits are being tracked using a traffic heat map (IR imaging). Experiments in RFID in shoes and sensors in floor mats are also underway.
There is a lot of other data on that slideshow that you may find interesting.
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