4 ms·

I've noticed this kind of thing happens a lot, especially with banks. The institution or counties that "went digital" earliest are now hampered by the tech debt

I've noticed this kind of thing happens a lot, especially with banks. The institution or counties that "went digital" earliest are now hampered by the tech debt and infrastructure from the early days. And slower institutions/counties can leap frog them.

donatj 5y ago
I think that's just true about everything. You spend a ton of money deploying something, you're not going to rush to spend a ton of money deploying every incremental change.
oconnor663 5y ago
Yeah I think this is why the US is so behind the curve on paying for things with phones. We went all in early on credit cards, and those are still mostly good enough for most cases, so there's not a lot of incentive to upgrade.
- twostorytower 5y ago
  I feel like Apple Pay is almost everywhere I go now.
  - voidfunc 5y ago
    Is it? I have found there can be massive PoS differences between the coast. For example everywhere on the west coast it seems restaurants bring the CC scanner to your table and use a fancy digital checkout/pay system in restaurants. On the East coast we still hand credit cards to wait staff who give us paper receipts that then disappear to god knows where to run it. I dont even think Apple Pay is common at all around here in Boston/Cambridge.
  - ip26 5y ago
    I figure contactless got a big unexpected boost from COVID. Suddenly not having to touch anything at all to check out because very appealing. It was "around" for ten years previously, not making many inroads. Suddenly it's everywhere.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
BeFlatXIII 5y ago
Hotel wi-fi is my go-to example of this. The fancy downtown hotels full of business travelers all signed contracts with digitization providers who charge $20/night for flakey and slow service. The Motel Six by the interstate has free and faster connections. For the hotels, there is the added complication that expensive hotels often have people other than the guest paying for the expenses while cheap hotels have travelers comparing on price.
Tijdreiziger 5y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_handicap_of_a_head_start https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_handicap_of_a_head_...

donatj 5y ago

I think that's just true about everything. You spend a ton of money deploying something, you're not going to rush to spend a ton of money deploying every incremental change.

oconnor663 5y ago

Yeah I think this is why the US is so behind the curve on paying for things with phones. We went all in early on credit cards, and those are still mostly good enough for most cases, so there's not a lot of incentive to upgrade.

twostorytower 5y ago
I feel like Apple Pay is almost everywhere I go now.
- voidfunc 5y ago
  Is it? I have found there can be massive PoS differences between the coast. For example everywhere on the west coast it seems restaurants bring the CC scanner to your table and use a fancy digital checkout/pay system in restaurants. On the East coast we still hand credit cards to wait staff who give us paper receipts that then disappear to god knows where to run it. I dont even think Apple Pay is common at all around here in Boston/Cambridge.
- ip26 5y ago
  I figure contactless got a big unexpected boost from COVID. Suddenly not having to touch anything at all to check out because very appealing. It was "around" for ten years previously, not making many inroads. Suddenly it's everywhere.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

BeFlatXIII 5y ago

Hotel wi-fi is my go-to example of this. The fancy downtown hotels full of business travelers all signed contracts with digitization providers who charge $20/night for flakey and slow service. The Motel Six by the interstate has free and faster connections. For the hotels, there is the added complication that expensive hotels often have people other than the guest paying for the expenses while cheap hotels have travelers comparing on price.

Tijdreiziger 5y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_handicap_of_a_head_start https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_handicap_of_a_head_...