The rise of decentralized technologies

The year 2016 will be very different from the rest in terms of how we as humans produce and distribute technology. So far, just like the production and distribution of electricity, we have researched, produced and distributed technology in a rather centralized way. Some big company hired the best and the brightest for their entire working time and expected them to produce technologies according to the company’s vision.

Once the technology was verified, if it was hardware, it was produced in the cheapest possible way and distributed via certain channels. If it was software, the process was easier; you just paid and downloaded it to your device. 

However, this manner of centralized technology production and distribution is coming to an end. 

Yes, Apple has lost value after a long time, according to the BBC. The technology giant reported quarterly sales of $50.56 billion, down from $58 billion last year - the first fall in sales for the company since 2003.

Apple sold 51.2 million iPhones during the quarter, down from 61.2 million in the same quarter of 2015.

China was a particular weak spot - sales there fell 26 percent. Results were also hit by the impact of a stronger dollar. Apple shares fell 8 percent in afterhours trading. Its shares have fallen close to 20 percent over the last twelve months.

While the trend that I wrote about has a little to do with Apple’s results as of today, it will have a bigger effect in the future. 

The reason why I am so confident about it is the fact that people all around the world re producing technologies and devices either from scratch or by hacking what is available. 

A guy from the U.S. produced a vehicle by hacking a hoverboard. Another guy built a car-like vehicle from two bicycles last week. There are thousands of projects on Kickstarter-like websites. A group in Turkey even produced a rakı-making device.  

All in all people are tried from the limited choices they are provided with by big companies. With the right attitude and resources they know that they can address their own choices better than big conglomerates. They join forces with people all over the world on a part-time basis with a no strings attached attitude and come up with the most convenient solutions just for the fun and convenience of it. 

The era of the big technology firms is coming to an end, long live the era of decentralized technologies.