I think what is going to happen is that there will be marketplaces (for example SAFEX) which will offer direct person-to-person trading with a minimal, or no fees for the people making trades. In essence, it means that companies like Amazon are not going to be needed in the future because there will be a decentralized place for trading.
Customer service and scam-protection still applies, but as we have learned from platforms such as Ebay or Alibaba, merchant reputation is a fairly reliable method to weed out real scammers and promote a certain level of fair trading.
I think pretty soon a company will start selling things on this blockchain market place. And if you have any warranty issues or want a refund, you handle this directly with the company from which you purchased it. It's no different than using their WWW adress to buy it from a company, than it would be to buy it from a blockchain.. the company is still responsable for adhering to the low. If there is a transparant blockchain market place, even more so.
That is not going to allow the volume or convenience that most people require IMO but I don't know for sure. I think it will take time for these services to reach a level where the average consumer will even contemplate using them.
Ohh, yes, obviously. Amazon was around back in the 90's too wasn't it? These things take a few years to really break through.
For the average consumer it should not have to be user unfriendly or difficult at all. I envision usage to be identical to existing market places, with the only exception being that it's cheaper and possibly even rewarding to use it. Just like Steemit.
I think it will happen eventually or at least it should as long as the big players like Amazon don't step in too soon and make their own blockchain platform. With their resources there would be no way for an open blockchain platform to compete - the war would be over before it really started.
That's what people have been saying for forever though. But old tech and companies are slow adapting and adaptations are costly. The same way how Internet 1.0 companies have difficulty competing with Internet 2.0 companies. Blockchain is internet 3.0, and I don't think 2.0 companies even know wtf is going on really in the 3.0 sphere.. They're right where everybody else is: on the verge of accepting bitcoin, maybe ethereum, and totally oblivious of what else is out there.
The difference being that Amazon needs to make money to exist, but a blockchain technology is self supporting. It will outperform older services by cost and rewarding people, and a multimillion company has so many costs they are not going to be able to compete unless they significantly restructure and fire everybody left and right. I see Youtube disappearing too, in a similar fashion, as blockchain alternatives (for example LBRY is a good start) take over.
Will it be tomorrow, this year or next year? Nope. Maybe 3-5 years until it starts and 10 years before it becomes clear there is going to be a new world/internet order.
I hope so! Sometimes I think yes then other times I am more pessimistic.
I don't think that is entirely correct. They are dependent on money it's just it is not as direct - the value at least initially comes from speculation.
Yes I think that is the big hope and how they can change things by reducing costs and reducing the number of middlemen who take a cut of everything.
Or maybe even longer. Sometimes technology is ahead of it's time and it takes longer to go mainstream - it does happen it just takes longer.
Well, fair enough. I guess it depends on how big of a believer you are :) I'm a real skeptic and cynic but every once in a while I just stumble on something and know it's gold. I had this feeling back in 1995 with all sorts of things like Google, Youtube, and I have this feeling now with these emerging technologies. It's not certain that these specifically will survive, just like how myspace and msn boomed but ultimately declined. But in the end, blockchain technology (or similar decentralized like IOTA's tangle) is the future of the internet I believe.
So my strategy is to get as much crypto as possible, as fast as possible, because despite any dips that will surely come, I believe the path will only go up
I'm not saying you are wrong. I just tend to be very backwards and forwards on these things lol! I do believe what we have here is amazing but I also think about all the powers and vested interests who stand to lose so I do tend to waver on it at times. I'm following the same strategy with crypto though.