The story of American innovation is one that is told all across the world and the American way of development is looked up to by many. The smartphone industry is another marvel from America and it took the world during a time when Europe was well ahead of American companies in the game. In 2005, the US was suffering from an energy crisis and had all its attention focused there. The primary players now, Apple, Google and Microsoft had a mere 5% of the market back then which was predominantly controlled by Nokia and RIM. In addition, 3G networks were spreading fast in Europe and were relatively unheard of in the US.
Fast track forward to 2012 where Apple, Google and Microsoft platforms account for 65% of the devices in the market and while American carriers have launched 4G networks already and are constantly expanding, the UK is going to get its first 4G network only at the end of October. However, not everything in the US has been conducive to growth. Though the energy problems have been sorted out with the help of new methods of drilling for natural gas, the country has economic problems that have caused a trend of unemployment and its infrastructure is getting outdated and the number of immigrants looking to work there has reduced. However, investments continue to be high in science and technology irrespective of a strategic approach. Experts believe that with continued investment, the environment for innovation will be maintained at a high standard, leading to overall growth.
One of the key factors fueling innovation is investment in federal programs by the government. For example, the recent Apple maps service would not have worked if not for huge money invested in GPS satellites by the military and federal government. Moreover, the methodology for private investments through venture capitalist firms has led to the development of the largest technology companies in the world. This structure is not available anywhere else in the world.
The best example is the iPhone from Apple which was released in 2007 and squashed Nokia and RIM in a few years’ time. The counter came from Google with the Android platform which was open source and available to any manufacturer who wanted to use it. Right now, the two largest companies in the market are American and it is unlikely that either Nokia or RIM will ever catch up.
