Infinite Path

Over the weekend, the impatient, lightning-paced nature of today’s online world became all too evident when two separate events emphasised the relentlessly competitive element of the internet.

Over in San Francisco at the MobileBeat conference, the chief executive of GetJar, an independent mobile application store, spoke of the projected rapid growth of apps whilst also highlighting the temporary nature of their existence.

Ilja Laurs explained how “apps will be as big if not bigger than the internet” but a “tipping point” will see a “gradual fall in the rate of development” as each individual developer starts to see a noticeable decline in profits.

The reason for this decline lies in the nature of the online environment, which causes companies to compete for the top spot and attempt to hold this dominant position for as long as possible. At the moment, Apple operates the most popular apps store and experts believe that a large number of developers will find it extremely difficult to sustain a realistic business model in such a competitive, time-sensitive environment.

This is a specific problem that isn’t just affecting apps developers. It was announced at the end of last week that Teletext, once the epitome of instant information, is set to close. It seems that the rapid, explosive, and continued growth of the internet, along with poor financial outlooks, have signalled the end of the service.

Teletext, which was originally known as Oracle and initially hit our screens back in 1974 on ITV, boomed in the 1990s with popular features designed to complement the main news feed including music reviews and puzzles.

It is certainly sad news when such a beacon of popular culture finds itself struggling to operate but, to quote Mr Laurs, the online “space is only so big and only able to support so many people”. Those who find themselves at the edges, outmuscled by a quicker, a more efficient, or a more fashionable service, are ultimately doomed to fail.