U.S. Becoming Less Relevant In Global, Internet Economy

US BECOMING LESS RELEVANT IN GLOBAL, INTERNET ECONOMY
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: Antone Gonsalves]
The United States is losing its clout in the global economy and the Internet as other countries develop faster growing markets. The U.S. share of the global gross domestic product has declined steadily since 1999 to 19% today from 22%. While this has been good news for other countries, it hasn't been a favorable trend for the U.S. Going forward within the U.S., the country's current woes related to the subprime mortgage market "should not be underestimated" and it could have a serious impact on the U.S. GDP. In terms of the Internet -- especially in technologies key to Web 2.0 success -- the fastest growth is in non-U.S. markets. For example, Germany leads the e-commerce market, China leads in online gaming, South Korea leads in broadband, Japan leads in mobile payments, the United Kingdom leads in online advertising, Brazil and South Korea lead in social networking, and the Philippines leads in micro-transactions via SMS. America is not totally out of the picture. Online advertising is growing at a healthy clip in the U.S., growing 26% this year to 10% of the total ad market, or $21 billion, Meeker said. The total U.S. advertising market this year is expected to grow by 4%. By 2012, online advertising is expected to make up 17% of the total ad spend in the U.S.
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