A key feature of the ICT ecosystem, as noted in several places in this book, is the dominance of Internet content and applications provision in layer 3 by US companies such as Google, Yahoo!, eBay, Amazon and MySpace. But why do US companies dominate in this space, and why are European and Asian companies so scarce? In this appendix some reasons are suggested.

Introduction

One of the most important distinguishing features of the global new ICT ecosystem is the dominance of layer 3 by US companies. These companies are particularly strong among the Internet-based content and applications providers (ICAPs). Examples are companies such as Google, Yahoo!, eBay, Amazon and YouTube which have very rapidly become globalised household names. This phenomenon begs three questions:

• Why is it US companies that have achieved this prominence?

• Why are there so few European and Asian companies in this space?

• Can anything be done to remedy this uneven development?

In order to examine these three questions, the author has taken a sample of ICAPs and studied their origin. In addition to the five US companies referred to above two other non-US companies were added to the sample – a Chinese and a European ICAP, Baidu and Skype, respectively. Baidu is the main Chinese Internet search company that has the largest market share in the Chinese market, exceeding that of Google. Skype is perhaps the most famous voice-over-IP (VoIP) company which was established by a Swede and a Dane in Europe.