A walk down memory lane
Reading Steve Jobs’ bio while on vacation a few weeks ago caused me to reflect on how technology has emerged over the years, and also how many parallels exist between the evolution of mobile in the current era vs the PC in the late '70s-early '80s. Then we had a rag-tag group of vendors trying to capture the early adopters and computer hobbyists. Names like MITS Altair, Apple, Commodore, Osborne, Radio Shack, Heathkit, and IMSAI come to mind. Then in 1981, IBM partnered with Microsoft, shocked the world with the first IBM Personal Computer, and the rest is history. Today, we are seeing a repeat, except the early leaders like Motorola, Nokia and RIM are being replaced by Apple, Samsung, HTC and others. And, on the OS side, iOS and Android have pushed aside early market leaders such as Symbian and RIM. Never a dull moment, with huge implications for major companies, including Microsoft, fighting for a piece of the pie. Meanwhile, the consumer continues to benefit from this highly competitive environment, enjoying lower cost hardware and significantly better performance and applications. It's a rewarding time to be a consumer of shiny new gadgets. And for Corum, a great time to be in the highly active software M&A market, sitting at the intersection of technology and business. I can’t wait for tomorrow.
Posted by WardCarter, Chairman on 06 January 2012
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