A streaming, ride-sharing generation

I remember my first adult novel. It was a beaten-up Michael Crichton classic, with the sides of its pages painted yellow and its trademark scent reminiscent of second-hand bookstores. At age nine, I knew I had graduated from the Hardy Boys.

Those were interesting times to be both young and a reader. At the turn of the millennium, there was a growing fear that recreational reading among young people was slowly fading, if not already dead. The advent of the internet heightened the fear that reading—at least for the younger set—was fading fast; that it would die an expected death and that technology would replace reading as a recreation forever.

Except that it didn’t. The fear did not materialize.

Instead we have a $2.87-billion industry in young adult novels, with around 10,200 titles as of 2012, jumping from a mere 4,600 titles in 2002. At around the same timeframe, e-book sales for young adult titles increased by 117 percent. Movies and television did not replace reading, as once feared. Instead, we have movie and TV tie-ins of young adult novels.

Curiously, publishing is not the only industry that thrived in the advent of technology. Spotify and Apple Music’s streaming services have revived music revenues. Streaming has now more than a hundred million paying subscribers and counting, resulting in a second consecutive year of growth for the music industry, a statistic unseen since 1999. The internet is reviving an industry many thought it once killed, when a drop in physical album sales resulted in a 40-percent decline in revenue the past 15 years.

While books have Amazon and music has Spotify, transportation has also seen a modern revival through mobile technology with the growth of Uber and its Asian counterpart, Grab.

Earlier this week, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) was under fire for its crackdown on colorum vehicles from both Uber and Grab. Uber has been through a wild ride on its own even on a global scale. Near the end of June this year, its cofounder Travis Kalanick resigned as its CEO after a stream of controversies including a toxic workplace and hostility with stakeholders. Still, the pioneer in ride-sharing is valued at almost $70 billion today.

The LTFRB was firm on its decision to go after these vehicles. The agency had asked both Uber and Grab to comply with regulations if they want to stay on the road. Except that reportedly, the LTFRB has “ceased” processing applications.

Uber has faced similar ordeals in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan. It will suspend its operations in Macau this weekend. The only thing is that the commuters in these countries are not as embattled as the commuters in Manila.

Admittedly, we are not just a paperback generation. We have become a streaming, ride-sharing generation. We have entrusted both our recreation and our necessities to mobile technology. When they are aggravated, we are aggrieved, too. It is not surprising that social media erupted over the LTFRB. Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter said that Uber is “too important a concept to fail.” We believe so, too.

Regulators have expressed concerns over Uber and Grab’s growth making traffic worse. On Twitter, there was an alleged quote from an LTFRB official saying that they have to be stricter with Uber and Grab so that they can be as safe as taxis, whose revenues have been reeling from the apps.

At this point, we shouldn’t be surprised when game changers overhaul the way we do things, especially when technology has ushered in such change. Government agencies should be the first to adapt, whose public interest they are first and foremost protecting.

As we read from Amazon, stream on Spotify and Netflix, book an Airbnb or Uber, it comes out as a realization that technology has not played a major role in displacing publishing, music, movies, accommodation and transportation. Consumers will always find quality and convenience. Technology hasn’t killed businesses. Incompetence did.

michael.baylosis@gmail.com