?? The Next Now: work from home forever + esports mainstream moment

I've decided to open up a half-decade running monthly digest amongst peers to my broader network. If you want future digests in your inbox, subscribe here.

A digest about what? About emerging technology and trends as they relate to the future of business, culture, and society. More than mere observations about what is happening now, this digest intends to ask questions about what is happening now that are designed to be a catalyst for deeper thought on what we do next; that will help us do a better job of identifying change not as a threat, but as opportunity.

Square, Facebook, Slack, Twitter, Shopify and more join the "work from home forever" club. Bitter-sweet vindication for a decade of designing distributed teams that outperform centralised ones, COVID-19 has sped the adoption of a workplace revolution, leaving offices around the world emptier than before. Some, permanently so. 

• Companies embracing distributed working environments are now empowered to hire the best talent regardless of where they reside, while simultaneously avoiding costly rents. Can your company compete for the best talent without being just as flexible? 
• What impact does this have on commercial rental prices and commercial property investment as a category if the trend continues to gain momentum? 
• In Australia we're seeing people take their Sydney salary and move to Brisbane to work remotely. We're seeing the same from San Francisco to many places with cheaper costs of living. What happens to residential rental and purchase prices in our most expensive cities? 
• In light of this new reality, the NBN in Australia is under greater stress and greater criticism than ever before. How will this affect government and private industry investment in internet infrastructure and related services? What are the implications for under-investment with respect to the strength of our future digital economies? 

There are many unknowns, yet one thing is certain: businesses and governments will thrive or dive based on how they decide to embrace, or resist, the workplace changes that have finally moved in metres after many years of inches.

British Rally joins NASCAR, Indy, Supercars, F1 have accelerated a digital sporting future. If there's one industry positioned to benefit amidst COVID-19, it's esports. Yet it's actually a far broader ecosystem of beneficiaries than just the simulators behind those virtual racing series'. With esports and sim racing having its 'mainstream moment', it's the manufacturer of racing wheels and gaming headsets that have seen business soar and retailers struggle to keep up with demand. It's also the digital distribution platforms seeing record sales of software and developers seeing record high numbers of concurrent players. With sim racing being shockingly close to the real thing, a question of future horizons asks: why might tomorrow's society continue to risk lives in the real world when we can compete safely in virtual ones? Ready Player One doesn't seem quite as silly in the context of the late 21st century as it did just months ago, does it? 

Joe Rogan reminds us streaming services are just the new record labels. If you don't know who Joe is, he's one of the world's most popular podcasters. Elon Musk smoked weed on his show. That guy. It has become clear that exclusives are hotter than ever, from Ninja moving from Twitch to Mixer, and Australia's new Binge being the only standalone streaming platform in the country that you can watch Game of Thrones on. It has become clear that streaming services are merely the new record labels and cable networks - it’s fascinating how quickly exciting innovations have morphed into what are akin to digital versions of the analogues we thought we were getting away from. If consumers have again lost some power, if we now need 10 digital service subscriptions which costs just as much as cable anyway, where do we go from here? Radiohead and Louis C.K. tried direct distribution, but it's expensive and limits reach. In many ways consumers are back to square one, yet without better business models so are the new distribution owners. Unfortunately for distributors the consumer alternative remains simple: piracy.

Android is taking over, so you had better consider that with the release of your next app. One of the last geographical bastions of iPhone dominance is eroding: the majority of Oceania’s mobile market share has finally been seized by Android, now at 53%. For the longest period, there were more internet-engaged iOS devices than Android ones in the region. This isn't quite what it seems at face value, though. Oceania is a much bigger place than only the highly developed markets of Australia and New Zealand - it also includes many less developed markets, where incomes are an order of magnitude lower than Australia's, yet iPhone prices remain the same. Android's cheaper handsets are the reason there's no contest between iOS and Android market penetration in the world's developing nations, but this may spell trouble for Apple as we edge closer to a world where every adult has a smartphone (currently at ~5bn). North America remains squarely 50/50 iOS/Android, while Android has long maintained a large lead over iOS in Asia, India, and Europe. Of course, the smartphone wars are almost boring now. The more exciting question is what's next and it seems Apple is primed for an entrance into augmented reality with a rumoured smart-glasses release in 2021.