Applications in a global context

Broadband markets live from their applications, since consumers are dependent on products and services in the various application segments before they can derive usage benefits. This is why it is exciting to observe developments within the triad with regard to applications. The "Deutschland Online 4" survey queried the experts as to their opinion on the most innovative companies.

With regard to Internet access, the experts rates Asia as having the most innovative companies (Fig. 40). This is probably also due to the fact Asian countries have the world's largest diffusion of broadband Internet. Countries like South Korea are traditional leaders in this area. In terms of content, the most innovative companies are judged to come from the United States. And Asian companies are deemed the most innovative providers in the communications segment. Europe is seen to play a subordinate role when it comes to innovativeness in the three broadband application segments of access, content and communication.

Figure 40:		Most innovative triad companies in the areas of access, content, communications (international experts)

This picture changes if you take the Internet applications of Internet search engines and e-commerce into account. Here U.S. companies have attained outstanding market positions since the mid-Nineties. In the field of e-commerce American firms also enjoy market dominance. In the eyes of the international experts, however, American dominance in e-commerce will weaken by the year 2015 (Fig. 41).

The rankings for Internet search engines are even more one-sided. The three biggest search engines are all US-based. Here, the experts anticipate the innovative dominance of U.S. firms to largely continue.

Figure 41:		Most innovative triad companies in the areas of Internet searching and e-commerce (international experts)

The dominance of U.S. search engine enterprises has generated a large number of critics who see information searching jeopardized by possible manipulation. Search engines select Internet content and decide which content will be shown to the user. The experts view them as playing a pivotal role on the Internet (Fig. 42). Almost every second expert is of the opinion that the strong market position of a handful of providers could have a negative impact on the diversity of information and opinion. Almost 60% of the German-based experts see a potential threat here.

Figure 42:		Statements on Internet searching (international experts)

In contrast to the international experts, German broadband experts believe much more strongly (over 60%) that it would be desirable to have a greater number of high-performance search engines to insure a diversity of information. German broadband experts are also more strongly convinced (almost 80%) that a search engine technology gap exists between the United States and the rest of the world than are international experts (almost 40 %).

Findings regarding the triad deliver a clear overall picture: The United States and Asia are at the forefront of the global information society. Europe plays a subordinate role in this domain. The consequences for us Europeans are clear: We need to increase our level of support for broadband Internet and information and communications technology in our society and economy and make them an integral part of our culture.