For the US technology industry, 2022 will be a difficult year. Technology giants have cut spending and slashed staff. This is the year Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion and then destroyed it. Mark Zuckerberg gambled heavily on the Metaverse and got an I was wrong in return.
In this coming year, what are the things worth thinking about in the technology world, and what failures can people learn from? The following are the eight major failures of the technology industry in 2022, which are counted by the media.
Musk destroys Twitter
Witnessing a train wreck can be a thrilling experience, but few things seem to be blowing up right now than tweeting. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok have all had their own troubles over the past few years, from political controversies to data privacy concerns, but few companies had faced Twitter before Musk's $44 billion acquisition on Oct. 27. This self-imposed existential risk. Although it's only been a month, the plot is already very bloody.
What did Musk do with Twitter? He laid off half of the company's employees and then realized that the company still needed someone to maintain operations, so he had the cheek to recall some of the laid-off employees; in order to acquire Twitter, he borrowed $13 billion from the bank, and the repayment deadline was approaching At that time, he publicly discussed the possibility of Twitter filing for bankruptcy; he pushed a more "hardcore" version of Twitter 2.0, requiring employees to be loyal to him, resulting in the departure of 1,200 employees; The launch caused criminals to fake big brands to post misleading tweets, causing serious consequences; he restored the banned accounts of former US President Trump and others, relaxed content review, and caused advertisers to flee.
It's clear that Musk experienced buyer's remorse almost immediately after the Twitter deal was struck. But if he's going to commit to the deal, he should have some sort of strategy, shouldn't he be a genius? But instead, so far, he's just posted one ridiculous tweet after another.
Zuckerberg screwed up the Metaverse
The Metaverse may represent the future, but not so soon. Facebook bet all-in on the Metaverse a little over a year ago, renaming itself Meta to reflect CEO Zuckerberg's commitment to the new virtual platform. However, the Metaverse has not developed as expected, and Meta has really felt the pain. While Facebook is investing in a platform that hasn't taken off yet, the company's core advertising business has been hobbled by the weak economy. As a result, Meta was forced to lay off 11,000 employees, or 13% of Meta's total workforce. Zuckerberg also made a rare public apology for his strategic transformation:
I was wrong, and I am responsible for it
Moreover, Meta is also suspected of being fake. At this year's Meta Connect conference, Meta introduced a new headset, the Quest Pro, to a lukewarm reception. It's priced at $1,500 and isn't intended for consumers. What has attracted more attention is that Zuckerberg's virtual avatar has legs. But the reality is that this is just a pre-rendered digital leg that relies on third-party motion capture technology, not a "real leg" that simulates the user's movements. Zuckerberg's Metaverse dream has a long way to go.
Crypto exchange FTX crashes
At the start of the year, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were all the rage, even though most people on the planet had no idea what they were. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are also skyrocketing, and FTX is not yet a household name. Now, 11 months on, bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency market are still unable to recover from a crash that wiped $2 trillion in market value this summer. This month, leading centralized crypto exchange FTX collapsed after rival Binance withdrew from an acquisition plan. Subsequent investigations revealed that FTX turned out to be a fragile platform with liquidity issues and serious risk issues, which eventually exploded.
The case serves as a reminder that despite the rise of cryptocurrencies over the past few years, those gains are not guaranteed. It's also a reminder that when it comes to money management, perhaps some tried-and-true business fundamentals do matter.
The shortage of chips is difficult to solve
The shortage of chips has caused shortages of various products such as automobiles and graphics cards. One of the biggest reasons is the knock-on effect of the economic slowdown caused by the epidemic in Asia, especially on components such as semiconductors. This situation exposes the fact that the world relies heavily on a handful of suppliers for the small chips that almost everything needs.
A year ago, Intel laid out grand plans to resume chip manufacturing in the United States and invest in next-generation tools to make it happen. But last October, Intel suffered a major setback when it reported an 85% drop in third-quarter profit from a year earlier and warned that full-year sales would fall short of expectations. It's a rough report, but it's also a reminder that Intel's ambitions to make the U.S. more self-sufficient in chips are years away from becoming a reality.
AI isn’t that scary
A lot of people are talking about the dangers of artificial intelligence and where this technology is headed. Google software engineer Blake Lemoine (Blake Lemoine) deepened these concerns, he publicly stated that Google's artificial intelligence system has sentience, and was subsequently fired by Google. Despite Lemoine's concerns, it doesn't appear that AI systems will cross the line anytime soon and become sentient.
Google's hyped-up game service shut down
In 2022, people say goodbye to some famous services, and even those products or services that were once hyped can disappear in an instant. This is the case with Stadia, Google's cloud gaming service. Launched two years ago, the service aims to revolutionize the way people play games. However, Google will close it in January next year. The cloud gaming service was supposed to be an easy platform to deal with, especially as gamers spent more time playing games during the pandemic, but it was plagued by early technical glitches and a seemingly lack of interest and investment within the company. Moreover, competition for cloud gaming on platforms such as Xbox and PlayStation is fierce.
The price increase of technology products
Inflation is a buzzword this year, and many people are feeling the effects of rising prices. It's hitting us at the gas station, at the supermarket, and in the tech world. Meta used to subsidize the price of its virtual headsets to drive uptake. The company is now raising the price of the two-year-old Quest 2 by $101, to $400. Earlier this month, the price of a monthly subscription to YouTube Premium increased by $5 to $23. Disney+ raised fees in August, and Apple raised prices on various Apple Music and TV Plus plan in October.
Too many shopping festivals
Amazon's annual Prime Day shopping festival is usually held in July, but the e-commerce giant launched a second Prime Day shopping festival in October this year. The two-day sale ran twice, but it's clear that customer interest is nowhere near the summer Prime Day shopping day. Considering it's held more than a month before Black Friday, it's a shock that Amazon didn't do better.