https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-tech-years-2010-was-eons-ago-11577648410
Now that was a decade! In 2009 we wore analog watches, had landline phones, hung out in bookstores, and even hailed taxis. Ah, the good old days. Please don’t make us go back.
Jobless claims were 432,000 in the final week of 2009; they’re now 222,000. Unemployment was 10%; it’s now 3.5%. Ten-year Treasurys were yielding 3.8% and are now at 1.9%—a lower rate than most economists thought possible with unemployment so low.
Oil went from $80 a barrel to $60. The Fed now has $4 trillion in total assets to provide liquidity for the global economy. We’re in the midst of a record expansion, and past decade had no down year for U.S. gross domestic product. Wow. No wonder the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from 10428 to over 28000.
In 2009 Apple started selling the iPhone 3GS. It had a 3½-inch screen with a 480-by-320 display—less than half the resolution of a 20th-century TV set. The hot feature was—wait for it—a “built-in digital compass.” The price tag was $199. It sold like hotcakes. You wouldn’t want one now.
In 2019 the iPhone 11 Pro has a 5.8-inch screen and a 2,436-by-1,125 display. It features 30,000 infrared probes that can read your face. Yet everyone complains about the $999 price, and sales are flat.
Numbers don’t do the decade justice anyhow.