Apple’s latest roll-out only proves the US no longer leads in innovation – East Asia does
- From Boeing to Waymo and Apple, when US companies make the news now, it’s not because their latest products are at the cutting edge of technology
- Today, China and its neighbours are leading the way
Smartphones and drones were great inventions, but tech companies have yet to come up with the ones I’ve long wanted. On my shortlist are teleporters, time machines, an invisibility cloak, a device that shrinks and enlarges objects and, just for fun, an animal language translator. Given they’ve been part of science fiction lore since the genre began more than a century ago and developmental steps, if any, are minuscule, I’m not holding out much hope of ever trying them. But, if any do come to pass, I’ve a feeling it won’t be an American company behind them.
My reasoning is simple enough: the greatest American tech company of them all, Apple, has run out of ideas. For a decade and a half, it ruled the tech roost, launching a series of innovative products that had us oohing and aahing.
Then, around 2014, three years after the death of co-founder Steve Jobs, the flow of cool gadgets seemed to dry up, with only incremental hardware and software tweaks and, increasingly, online services. The most recent press conference at the Cupertino, California, headquarters was surely the most uninspiring yet, with CEO Tim Cook making a dreary presentation announcing plenty of content, but no fun stuff.
With each, the company is playing catch-up with competitors, not innovating. It is as if the spark ignited by Jobs was snuffed out with him and that his famous quote, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower,” has come to pass. Apple is increasingly an entertainment company, not one devoted to cutting-edge tech.
The leader and follower analogy seems widespread across the US business landscape and arguably extends to all things American. Waymo, the Google subsidiary that in December launched a self-driving robotaxi service in the Phoenix area, has a host of global competitors with even grander visions in the autonomous vehicle industry.
Then there is Boeing, which in its rush to produce its answer to European competitor Airbus’ A320 single-aisle, fuel-efficient, short-haul plane, appears to have skimped on the testing of its 737 MAX series. In the wake of accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed all on board, airlines have grounded hundreds of the passenger jets and orders for thousands of the planes are on hold, some likely to be cancelled.
Huawei is also the front-runner in 5G, the next generation of telecommunications networks. Mainland China is a leader when it comes to online payment systems, robotics and artificial intelligence. If there’s any possibility of dream inventions like Iron Man’s jet-powered flying boots becoming reality, I’d think it’s East Asia in general, and China in particular, where they are most likely to originate.
The Forbes Global 2000 list of leading companies for 2018 puts it into perspective; narrowing it down to the top 10 tech firms, seven were American, but three were Asian. No 2 was Samsung, Taiwan’s Hon Hai precision, better known as Foxconn, was eighth, and the mainland firm Tencent was ninth.
Future economic and social growth and development lies in technology, and the eye-catching ideas are coming from China. If Apple having lost its mojo is any guide, the message is clear: the US is also in decline.
Peter Kammerer is a senior writer at the Post
