Smartphones: "I want to search for something on the Internet when I'm not at home." It's a very simple problem statement, it's well solved by a smartphone, and

Smartphones: "I want to search for something on the Internet when I'm not at home." It's a very simple problem statement, it's well solved by a smartphone, and it's a far superior solution than the pre-existing one, which was to find an Internet cafe or free wifi hotspot. This is borne out by smart phone adoption worldwide. Meanwhile, bitcoin was never better than the existing alternatives of barter and foreign currency for dealing with a failing central currency. It's not got substantial traction as an electronic currency. Bitcoin does solve one problem: "how can I rake money in from suckers when I'm providing them with nothing in return". It does this well. Tremendous amounts of money are going from "investors" to miners and people at the top of the pyramid. This can only continue so long as there's a growing base of new money coming in - but nothing of value is coming out, just the promise of more coming in later. My opinion is that Bitcoin was originally a political statement or thought experiment in crypto-anarchy, with a poorly thought out economic model that actively discourages its use as a coin, and history continues to reinforce that opinion.