Turkey's Tech-rich Future?
Twenty-four hours in Istanbul has shown me Turkey is edging toward an advanced information economy. The city is being flooded with technology: digital TV in my taxi, competitive mobile services on offer everywhere, a flood of smartphones, dozens of slick satellite TV channels, SMS banking, mobile broadband, 3G netbooks, and electronics stores stacked the ceiling with flat-screens and every conceivable piece of consumer electronics.
This is of course against a background of per capita GDP around $8,000, and 50% of the income held by the top 20% of the population. Just last year, the EIU placed Turkey's e-readiness at 5.64 out of 10 in its index of ICT maturity. Nonetheless, a competitive market with a growing, status-seeking middle class appears to be enough of a lure for the nation's media, telecoms and product marketers to pour investment into Turkey's wires, towers and airwaves.
Like their peers elsewhere, Turkey's youth are glued to their technology , from mobiles to iPods, so much so that its has trickled up to older Turks as well. This bodes well for growing a stable technology culture, and therefore economy, in years to come. In the face of this, it will be interesting to see how top-down control of digital media, including blocking some services, will be maintained.
Comments [0]