

Making a happy developer house - bootload
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/11/11/makingAHappyDeveloperHouse.html

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neilc
> So I still don't know of a single example of an exclusive platform that
> worked.

Really? Not a _single_ example? How about iTunes Music Store (and/or the
iPod), as well as the vast majority of gaming consoles?

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shayan
I think by _worked_ he means setting the standards and being _the_ platform
and eliminating any competition ... I think his point has been proven over and
over through the success of those that opened up and the failure of those that
didn't ... and you can see a bigger proof these days with all the talks around
all the social networking platforms and Android the open mobile platform and
the overall intentions of all these companies ...

If you open up you can get a lot more market share a lot quicker ... you will
also eliminate future competition to a large extend ... if your platform is
interesting and you can reach users, then by opening up you will allow
thousands of developers making applications for your platform day in and day
out, and no matter who you are and how good you are and how much capital you
have, you could never comepte with that ... lets not forget how Microsoft beat
Apple ...

I am not a gamer myself, but for what I know there is competition out there
and there is not really any market leaders at this point .. At any given point
there might have been leaders in this market but new competition always came
in and took a part of the market share, Sony did it with Nintendo and
Microsoft to Sony. But I think the gaming industry is a bit trickier since
even if you do open up completely its not that easy for everyone to develop a
game. I believe they give their SDK to specific companies that they are
partners with, since they have the right capabilities (again if someone has
more info about the gaming industry they can correct me) ... but imagine you
could have a completely open platform for game consoles, then how many games
do you think you would have available to yourself!

 _but_ if you decide not to open and you are the first in the market you will
be able to take advantage of your network effects for a while but it won't
last forever.... and for that very reason iTunes will not last forever (they
are already losing many deals to Amazon, NBC is pulling their content ...)

but in general it makes more sense for some platforms to be open than others,
i.e. they can take more advantage of it. For instance, I would much rather see
iPhone opening up than iPod. And in general if you are offering something
unique that bundles up your platform with a specific kind of hardware, you
will have more power to resist to opening up, such as the case with iPod or
the gaming consoles for that matter

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neilc
> I think by worked he means setting the standards and being the platform and
> eliminating any competition

Well, I suppose if you redefine "worked" to mean whatever you like, then it's
hard to prove the guy wrong. But a platform that "worked" is not generally
considered equivalent to "eliminating any competition".

