China, Not Silicon Valley, Is Cutting Edge in Mobile Tech - The New York Times

Innovation mobility

"The biggest advantage for China’s tech industry, according to many analysts, is that it was able to fill a vacuum after the country essentially created much of its economy from scratch following the end of the Cultural Revolution, in 1976. Unlike in the United States, where banks and retailers already have strong holds on customers, China’s state-run lenders are inefficient, and retailers never expanded broadly enough to serve a fast-growing middle class.

Many Chinese also never bought a personal computer, meaning smartphones are the primary — and often first — computing device for the more than 600 million who have them in China."

China, Not Silicon Valley, Is Cutting Edge in Mobile Tech - The New York Times