Technology Adoption Quickens Across Emerging Markets
Channel: IntelFreePress
Date: 2012-05-07

Find this and other technology news stories at http://vid.io/xqV.
Loren Loverde, vice president of IDC research and Christian Morales, VP of Intel Europe, Middle East and Africa talk about the early, rapid and widespread adoption of technology across Turkey. Considered an emerging market, Turkey has turned to technology as a cultural phenomenon and an economic competitive edge.

Turkey was Europe's fastest growing economy last year, expanding by more than 8 percent for the second consecutive year. Although that brisk pace is projected to slow this year, by about 3 percent, the government has ambitions to become one of the world's top 10 economies by 2023 when the Republic of Turkey will celebrate its centennial. To get there, the government is betting big on technology for educating the country's youth. Today, 65% of the population is younger than 24, and the nation's leaders see this as a competitive advantage that will drive Turkey's growth.

"Turkey is a very young society, where adoption of new things can be quicker than other societies," said Anastasia Ashman, an author and Berkeley, California-native who moved to Istanbul in 2003 and recently returned to the U.S. "One early adopter can get a group or whole family into a new thing almost overnight." She says this behavior is driving quick adoption of computers, smartphones and Facebook.