[CAnet - news] The end of walled gardens - how customers will co-design your company's future

For more information on this item please visit my blog at 
http://billstarnaud.blogspot.com/
-------------------------------------------


 [A new book  worth reading is called "Outside Innovation: How your
customers will co-design your company's future"  Patricia B Seybold
HarperBusiness.  There is a good review in this week's Economist.   In her
book she argues that companies should focus on customers rather than
employees in the innovation process. She covers a number of case studies of
several new web based companies that are using open source software, web
services and Web 2.0 to give more customer control of the business
processes. (See my earlier posts on this subject). She argues that most
companies make two common mistakes about their customers: First they think
customers can't innovate and so innovation must be driven internally and
second that they believe they already do a good job of listening to their
customers.  A good example of this type of thinking is how many carriers
want to build walled gardens in the belief that they can provide the
innovative services that their customers need.  But this archetypical
business model is being undermined by new open source tools like the Linux
phone mentioned in David Isenberg's blog below.  As with the Internet the
new innovative cell phone features will come from open source solutions and
web services - not the traditional walled gardens.  Companies that embrace
this vision and tear their walled gardens will win.  These lessons not only
apply to commercial organizations, but to research facilities, governments
and other organizations. In almost all of these environments the software,
network and organizational processes are fixed and immobile limiting the
ability for users or customers to innovate and create new custom solutions.
Grids and cyber-infrastructure are the first steps in this direction of user
control and management  in the research community.  Just as the web
revolutionized the distribution of information and made creation and
distribution accessible to all, web 2.0 and web services promises to
transform business and research processes in a similar way. Thanks to David
Isenberg for this bog--BSA]



Friends,

 From isen.blog
http://isen.com/blog/2006/11/breaching-cellcos-garden-wall.html

Happy T-day.
David I
-------

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Breaching the Cellcos' Garden Wall
Bob Lucky likes to complain that his mobile phone (a) won't play self- 
generated ringtones (you have to buy them from the phone company),  
(b) won't upload pictures directly (you have to send them over the  
phone company's network) and (c) won't give direct access to GPS  
information (without a subscription from the phone company).

Good news, Bob! Several current tidbits hint at the opening of the  
cell phone, which, in turn, promises to disrupt the mobile carriers'  
verticalized business model and usher in a whole new set of players  
in the handset business.

First, there's news of a completely open-source Linux-based mobile  
computing platform, the OpenMoko. It is different than previous  
phones that use Linux, in that it provides a truly open interface for  
developers. There's a good write-up here, and Sean Moss-Pultz, the  
inspired creator of OpenMoko, has a delightful presentation here (.pdf).

Wonder what an open mobile platform can do that closed platforms  
don't? Tim O'Reilly has a perceptive posting called Ten Things I Want  
from my Phone.

A second news item: Om Malik has sniffed out a rumor that Apple is  
finally building its long-rumored iPod phone. The breakthrough, says  
Malik, is that Apple is building it UNLOCKED! That is, the new iPhone  
will be sold by Apple directly, not in partnership with a cellco.  
(The delay has been due to fights between Apple and the cellcos about  
how to divide the revenues from a closed iPhone!) The iPod phone will  
be the first popular unlocked US phone. Om thinks that the iPod won't  
be mass-market at first, but I disagree! We're already spending US 
$300 for our non-phone, mass-market iPod. Adding phone capability  
won't up the price much more.

Both the OpenMoko and the iPod phone will have GSM radios -- so  
they'll work around the world. In the U.S., they'll work with T- 
Mobile or Cingular sim cards. Potential problem: it isn't clear that  
Apple or OpenMoko will have Wi-Fi! Which brings us to the third  
tidbit . . .

Third, a bunch of mobile Wi-Fi phone platforms are now available,  
largely (but not exclusively) driven by the success of Skype, and  
more are on the way! (Note: Skype has a package deal whereby you can  
buy a Wifi phone and a FONera router for US$159 -- once you install  
your FON router, you can make free carrier-less calls wherever  
there's another FON hotspot. Disclosure: I am on FON's US Advisory  
Board.)

I expect that Wi-Fi soon will be a popular requirement. I strongly  
suspect that mobile platforms with two radios, Wi-Fi and GSM, will  
host the really cool apps and outsell the others.

If I were a cellco addicted to the vertical value chain, I'd be  
worried. (But they're unlikely to feel the threat . . . until the new  
apps are so popular they're uncontrovertably killing the cellcos'  
"traditional" revenue stream.) If I were a handset maker, I'd be  
doing what Nokia does -- building Wi-Fi into all(?) their unlocked  
devices, and I'd be a very close observer of emerging challengers  
like OpenMoko.

The wall is starting to show cracks. Do the folks with sledge hammers  
arrive in 2007?

Technorati Tags: Apple, Cellco, DisruptiveTechnology, FON, OmMalik,  
OpenSource, Skype, VOIP, WalledGardens

-------------------------------------
To SUBSCRIBE:
send a blank e-mail message to
[email protected]

To UNSUBSCRIBE:
send a blank email message to
[email protected]
-------------------------------------

These news items and comments are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect
those  of the CANARIE board or management.
-----------
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.canarie.ca/~bstarn
skype: pocketpro
SkypeIn: +1 614 441-9603


_______________________________________________
news mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.canarie.ca/mailman/listinfo/news