Vivek Wadhwa

Vivek Wadhwa is Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, a globally syndicated columnist for The Washington Post, and an author of multiple books on economic and policy trends.

Vivek Wadhwa in 2010

Quotes

• With the technology advances that are presently on the horizon, not only low-skilled jobs are at risk; so are the jobs of knowledge workers. Too much is happening too fast. It will shake up entire industries and eliminate professions. Some new jobs will surely be created, but they will be few. And we won’t be able to retrain the people who lose their jobs, because, as I said to Andreessen, you can train an Andreessen to drive a cab, but you can’t retrain a laid-off cab driver to become an Andreessen. The jobs that will be created will require very specialized skills and higher levels of education — which most people don’t have.
  • We need a new version of capitalism for the jobless future on Linkedin (24 July 2015)

• Bitcoin did have great potential, but it is damaged beyond repair. ... Bitcoin was born with serious flaws. ... it has been compared to a Ponzi scheme. ... It's time to admit that the current Bitcoin needs to be scrapped ... bear in mind what it is that makes some venture capitalists Bitcoin zealots: pure greed. That is the reason clearest to me for Bitcoin's failure.
  • R.I.P., Bitcoin. It's time to move on. in The Washington Post (19 January 2016)

• By picking this particular fight [with the FBI], Apple is doing the technology industry a big disservice. ... Apple will very likely lose this case in the courts and suffer a public relations disaster.
  • Apple picked the wrong battle in privacy war in The Dallas Morning News (18 February 2016)

• Steve Jobs was a true visionary who refused to listen to customers — believing that he knew better than they did about what they needed. He ruled with an iron fist and did not tolerate dissent of any type. ... Apple may have peaked. ... its last major innovation — the iPhone — was released in June 2007.
  • Why I'm skeptical about Apple's future in The Washington Post (23 March 2016)

• The last big thing [Apple] did was nine years ago with the iPhone. And since then they made it bigger with the iPad; they made it smaller with the Watch. All they keep doing is playing with the size. ... [Apple] needs an Elon Musk or a Zuckerberg running it. ... [iPhone] is a ten-year-old device. They've done everything they can with it. And Samsung, and even BlackBerry, have similar or even better ratings than the iPhone does. That's the biggest slap in the face you could possibly have: BlackBerry almost ranking the same as an iPhone? Time to move on.
  • Vivek Wadhwa: Apple should buy Tesla and make Elon Musk CEO. CNBC (April 27, 2016). Retrieved on 8 September 2018.

• The numbers make it clear that the future of [Apple] is no longer in its consumer products. The fix? Apple should release a version of iOS for non-Apple devices. This suggestion will seem like heresy to the brand's loyalists, but it may be necessary for the success of the company. ... Without expanding its operating system, the future looks bleak for Apple.
  • Why Apple needs to liberate iOS in VentureBeat (27 July 2016)

• Apple is repeating the mistakes it made in China. It is relying on its brand recognition to build a market and failing to understand the needs of its customers. By marketing inferior products, it may also be insulting Indian consumers.
  • Why Apple is destined to fail in India in Vivek Wadhwa (16 March 2017)

• [BitCoin]'s the greatest scam of modern times. ... the poor, the average mom-and-pop, the truck driver and the barber, who put their life savings into this, are going to lose their money, and be told to keep holding on, trust us, the value will go up. And they're gonna go bankrupt. They're gonna lose their life savings. ... This is what happened with the dot-com boom, the grandma and grandpa lost their life savings. History is repeating itself. ... We have these scamsters, basically, hyping the heck out of it, while all it's being used for is illegal money laundering. ... It's simply gonna implode before you know it. And regular people who trust you are gonna lose their shirts. ... Would you put your life savings into digital currency? You lose a password and you've lost everything. ... They know it's gonna crash and burn. ... it crashes and it goes to zero, and people lose their life savings. Don't do it. Get out of it, rather than losing everything you have. Yes, the price might increase, but more likely than not it's gonna be zero before you know it.
  • Digital Gold or Ponzi Scheme? on CNN (6 January 2018, 1045 EST)