How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone

by Brian McCullough

In the technology world, the ultimate success of a new idea is very much dependent on timing. Even great ideas that are quite obviously “the next big thing” can fail to deliver on their promise because the underlying technology or infrastructure isn’t mature enough yet. Streaming video was supposed to be big, going back to the days of Real|Audio and Broadcast.com, but it took the example of Napster and the advent of broadband Internet connections before YouTube could take off. SixDegrees couldn’t succeed because it was birthed in a world before ubiquitous digital cameras. Facebook got the timing right on that detail, but it also cracked the social-networking code by achieving critical mass just as another key technology was having its breakthrough moment. For many long years, mobile computing