3 ms·

His comment reminds me of that old adage that when trucking took over, railways would not have gone bust if they had known they were in the shipping business ra

His comment reminds me of that old adage that when trucking took over, railways would not have gone bust if they had known they were in the shipping business rather than the railway business. Feature phones are communication devices that just happen to have basic computing features. Smartphones are pocket computers that just happen to have phone functionality. At least based on my own anecdotal observations of my friends, who primarily use them for apps, games and messaging and only rarely to make a phone call. IMHO, If I were to take the various form factors of todays computers and rename them according to observed, contemporary, use case it would be more like: smartphone -> personal computer tablet -> family computer laptop -> work/study/office computer desktop -> room/workstation computer

true_religion 15y ago
Trucking didn't take over and the freight railways didn't go bust, so I'm not sure where that adage came from.
- alexhawket 15y ago
  It's called poetic licence, this is why I never comment on here, it's tedious backing up every little comment with 10 pages of pseudo-factual internet trivia. Trucking ships more ton-miles per year than rail and by value is an order of magnitude larger. (http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/2008/bts058_08/html/bts058_08.html http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/2008/bts058_08/html/bts058...) Trucking became cost competitive with rail in the 1910's and took off in earnest with the construction of the interstate highway in the 1950s. It's approximately 1/5th the cost of rail. The quip about rail companies forgetting they are in the "shipping" business is largely a reference to Penn Central which went bankrupt in 1970, the largest bankruptcy in American history at the time. The private sector failed to revitalize the company and it was nationalized along with 11 other lines in 1976. From the wikipedia entry: "Facing continued loss of market share to the trucking industry, the railroad industry and its unions were forced to ask the federal government for deregulation. The 1980 Staggers Act, which deregulated the railroad industry, proved to be a key factor in bringing Conrail and the old Penn Central assets back to life." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central_Transportation_Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central_Transportation_Com...)

true_religion 15y ago

Trucking didn't take over and the freight railways didn't go bust, so I'm not sure where that adage came from.

alexhawket 15y ago
It's called poetic licence, this is why I never comment on here, it's tedious backing up every little comment with 10 pages of pseudo-factual internet trivia. Trucking ships more ton-miles per year than rail and by value is an order of magnitude larger. (http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/2008/bts058_08/html/bts058_08.html http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/2008/bts058_08/html/bts058...) Trucking became cost competitive with rail in the 1910's and took off in earnest with the construction of the interstate highway in the 1950s. It's approximately 1/5th the cost of rail. The quip about rail companies forgetting they are in the "shipping" business is largely a reference to Penn Central which went bankrupt in 1970, the largest bankruptcy in American history at the time. The private sector failed to revitalize the company and it was nationalized along with 11 other lines in 1976. From the wikipedia entry: "Facing continued loss of market share to the trucking industry, the railroad industry and its unions were forced to ask the federal government for deregulation. The 1980 Staggers Act, which deregulated the railroad industry, proved to be a key factor in bringing Conrail and the old Penn Central assets back to life." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central_Transportation_Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central_Transportation_Com...)