Tech Deciphered

Tech Deciphered


#10A – A review of the past decade in tech, the 2010s, and its impact on the world we live in

May 19, 2020

We split this episode into two parts: in this, the first part (10A), we argue the 2010 decade actually started with the 2008 crisis, the advent of the iPhone, the App Store and the move of the world to the cloud. We go in-depth into the macro-trends of the decade and the underlying technological tectonic shifts, including analyses of the OS, platform and product & application spaces. 

Look out for the second part of this episode (10B), where we will discuss the shifts in business models and the funding landscape that happened in the 2010s.

Navigation:

Introduction (01:24)
Section 1 - When did the 2010s really start? (02:24)
Section 2 - The Backdrop: Macro-trends and overall context (03:41)
Section 3 - The Tech Stack: Operating Systems, Devices & Platforms (19:09)
Section 4 - Products & Applications (38:18)

Our co-hosts:

Bertrand Schmitt, Tech Entrepreneur, co-founder and Chairman at App Annie, @bschmitt
Nuno Goncalves Pedro, Investor, co-Founder and Managing Partner of Strive Capital, @ngpedro

Our show: Tech DECIPHERED brings you the Entrepreneur and Investor views on Big Tech, VC and Start-up news, opinion pieces and research. We decipher their meaning, and add inside knowledge and context. Being nerds, we also discuss the latest gadgets and pop culture news. 
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Full transcription: may contain unintentionally confusing, inaccurate and/or amusing transcription errors

Intro (01:24)

Bertrand: Hi Nuno, how are you today?

Nuno: I'm well and you Bertrand, how are you?

Bertrand: I'm doing good. I'm doing good, enjoying shelter in place. 

In today's episode we're going to discuss, the 2010s, the past decade. A lot happened in that past decade in tech. So it will be a pretty, pretty high density episode. We will talk first about a more higher level, macro view of what has been happening in tech. We will deep dive into the underlying of the technology industry, operating systems, devices, technologies, platforms, and then we will talk about the dramatic changes we also saw in business models.

It's actually pretty amazing when we think about everything that changed there. It's not just the technology. And finally, we will conclude around the switch in funding landscape and how much has changed as well. We will be splitting this episode in two. So that it's more digestible. 

Section 1 - When did the 2010s really start?

So Nuno, I will start with a question. When can we say that the 2010s really started?

Nuno:  Well in my opinion, the 2010s start with the 2008 crisis that prolonged itself well into 2009 and to the beginning of the 2010s. And in some ways that's a really good timing to choose because 2008 was also the year in which the Apple app store launched for the iPhone. It's also the year where, in effect, Android became a real threat to iOS and Apple, and it really defined a lot of what was going to come into 2010s so we start with a crisis, as we'll see, we might end with a crisis as well, which will be interesting. So maybe decades actually do get defined by crisis, but for the purposes of this episode, we will go back a little bit in 2007, 2008 to give us more context into what the decade really looked like.

Bertrand: Yes, it's might be sad to start and end with crisis, but at least it's pretty clearcut, and crises definitely generate very strong inflection points. 

Nuno: And  we had the 2000/2001 already with the bubble. So  in effect, beware of  end of decades.

Bertrand: Indeed, indeed. If we make a full comparison, the decades themselves are pretty good. It's the ending and the starting.

Section 2 - The backdrop: Macro-trends and overall context