Startup Talk: Majority of businesses, economies not ready for digital platforms

Editor’s note: Each Thursday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Startup Talk,” a round-up of startup, technology and entrepreneurial news.

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MAJORITY OF BUSINESSES, ECONOMIES NOT READY FOR DIGITAL PLATFORMS
Research released by Accenture shows that despite the potential for small and traditional businesses to become successful digital platform companies, as few as 10% of new start-ups focused on digital platform business models will become profitable independent entities in the coming years.

The analysis, called “Five Ways to Win with Digital Platforms,” also reveals that China, India and the U.S. will dominate the platform economy by 2020, and that the gulf between countries will increase.

Accenture’s analysis shows $20 billion was invested in digital platforms between 2010 and 2015 in 1,053 publicly announced deals. More than half of this investment took place between 2014 and 2015. It also shows that rankings on the Platform Readiness Index strongly correlate to the levels of digital platform activity and investment in G20 countries. The report notes that only 15% of Fortune 100 companies have developed digital platform business models to date.

COMCAST PLANS TO OFFER CELLPHONE SERVICE BY MID-2017, CEO SAYS
Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said at a Wall Street conference on Tuesday (Sept. 20) that the cable giant plans to begin offering cellphone service by the middle of next year. During a Q&A session with Goldman Sachs analyst Brett Feldman at the investment firm’s Communacopia Conference in New York City, Roberts said longtime company executive Greg Butz and COO Dave Watson have been working on plans for a new wireless offering that can be bundled with the company’s cable, Internet and landline phone service.

“The team of well over 150 people today are getting ready next year, probably toward I don’t know somewhere in the middle of next year, maybe a little sooner, but not at the beginning of next year, to launch a WiFi and MVNO-integrated product,” Roberts said. “We exercised our MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) rights with Verizon Wireless as many people know. And our thinking, and I can’t until we get there it will have more meat on these bones, but the concept would be that our very best customers of which we’ve got 28 million customers and well over 70% or 80% by some sort of multi-package bundle from us we can sell them more products.”

DOT TO ISSUE FEDERAL POLICY FOR TESTING, DEPLOYMENT OF SELF-DRIVING CARS
The U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday (Sept. 20) it is issuing federal policy for automated vehicles, laying a path for the safe testing and deployment of new auto technologies that have enormous potential for improving safety and mobility for Americans on the road.

The policy sets a proactive approach to providing safety assurance and facilitating innovation through four key parts. Vehicle performance guidance uses a 15-point Safety Assessment to set clear expectations for manufacturers developing and deploying automated vehicle technologies. Model state policy delineates the Federal and State roles for the regulation of highly automated vehicle technologies as part of an effort to build a consistent national framework of laws to govern self-driving vehicles.

Finally, the policy outlines options for the further use of current federal authorities to expedite the safe introduction of highly automated vehicles into the marketplace, as well as discusses new tools and authorities the federal government may need as the technology evolves and is deployed more widely. The DOT is also soliciting additional public comments for the next 60 days on the policy, which is published here.