The Mobile Revolution and Missed Opportunities

The iPhone's 2007 launch and the subsequent mobile revolution highlighted both French strengths and weaknesses. French engineers quickly mastered iOS and Android development. Companies like Deezer (founded 2007) and Dailymotion (founded 2005) showed France could build consumer internet products.

But scaling remained elusive. Deezer pioneered music streaming but couldn't match Spotify's growth. Dailymotion invented video sharing alongside YouTube but never achieved comparable reach. Time and again, French startups would innovate early but fail to dominate globally.

The pattern was frustrating but revealing. French startups often had superior technology or user experience but lacked the growth capital, marketing prowess, and killer instinct of American competitors. They'd build sustainable businesses serving European markets while US rivals achieved global domination.