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As technologically advanced as many aspects of life in the US seem to look like for an outsider, I am baffled that the finance overlord of the world somehow cam

As technologically advanced as many aspects of life in the US seem to look like for an outsider, I am baffled that the finance overlord of the world somehow came 10-15 years late to next-gen banking. I went to an African un-recognized state in 2009 and people already were using SMS-based mobile phone money transfers to conduct daily business or send money to their contacts. I also live in the Nordics. If a country with an advanced national ID system and a developing country with barely a government could both leap into the next generation of personal finance, what took the US so long?

thrashh 5y ago
It’s not baffling at all to me. If I built my house 20 years ago, it would be up to date as of 20 years ago. Someone who builds their house today would have a house up to date as of today. I can update my house to be up to date now but it’s going to cost a lot of money on top of the money I already spent building the thing. I might wait another 5 years first so I have the improvements discovered in the next 5 years. You can’t be constantly up to date. It’s too expensive. You have to up to date in cycles.
- andrewf 5y ago
  I watched HBO streaming on a domestic GOL flight in 2019 - a Brazilian low-cost airline. I couldn't do that on the United flights which took me SFO -> IAH -> GRU. I figure United installed/contracted for their solution 10+ years ago. GOL introduced in-air Internet in 2016: https://www.zdnet.com/article/brazilian-airline-gol-offers-internet-connectivity/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/brazilian-airline-gol-offers-i...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
mattnewton 5y ago
I think the answer is that the pain wasn't enough in the US to encourage the kind of innovation you saw in Africa. The marginal benefit of paying with your phone instead of card in your wallet is actually pretty small for most Americans, and much of it can only can be realized until you can leave your wallet at home. Similarly for other innovations where the incumbent was "good enough," ubiquitous, and already built.
ksdale 5y ago
I remember reading about mPesa back in the day, and the article was talking about how there wasn't really any choice but to do SMS payments because there wasn't infrastructure for anything else. It's next gen, but also kind of the opposite of that... I'm also sure that in 2009, there was population the size of the Nordics that was using mobile payments in the US, but the US is a large place.
bigbluedots 5y ago
What is it that seems technologically advanced about life in the US? Last time I visited (5+ years ago admittedly) this was not the feeling I had. Buildings and transport resemble the 1970s or earlier, and phone / internet / payments is way behind the rest of the world.

thrashh 5y ago

It’s not baffling at all to me. If I built my house 20 years ago, it would be up to date as of 20 years ago. Someone who builds their house today would have a house up to date as of today. I can update my house to be up to date now but it’s going to cost a lot of money on top of the money I already spent building the thing. I might wait another 5 years first so I have the improvements discovered in the next 5 years. You can’t be constantly up to date. It’s too expensive. You have to up to date in cycles.

andrewf 5y ago
I watched HBO streaming on a domestic GOL flight in 2019 - a Brazilian low-cost airline. I couldn't do that on the United flights which took me SFO -> IAH -> GRU. I figure United installed/contracted for their solution 10+ years ago. GOL introduced in-air Internet in 2016: https://www.zdnet.com/article/brazilian-airline-gol-offers-internet-connectivity/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/brazilian-airline-gol-offers-i...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

mattnewton 5y ago

I think the answer is that the pain wasn't enough in the US to encourage the kind of innovation you saw in Africa. The marginal benefit of paying with your phone instead of card in your wallet is actually pretty small for most Americans, and much of it can only can be realized until you can leave your wallet at home. Similarly for other innovations where the incumbent was "good enough," ubiquitous, and already built.

ksdale 5y ago

I remember reading about mPesa back in the day, and the article was talking about how there wasn't really any choice but to do SMS payments because there wasn't infrastructure for anything else. It's next gen, but also kind of the opposite of that... I'm also sure that in 2009, there was population the size of the Nordics that was using mobile payments in the US, but the US is a large place.

bigbluedots 5y ago

What is it that seems technologically advanced about life in the US? Last time I visited (5+ years ago admittedly) this was not the feeling I had. Buildings and transport resemble the 1970s or earlier, and phone / internet / payments is way behind the rest of the world.