creative organization, with people who can learn about new technologies and markets. Companies also need to nurture deep, enduring skills, such as by understanding how to marry high technology with consumer electronics. JVC could have done better after the VCR era had it evolved its skills more quickly from analog to digital technology, and then to networked systems and hardware driven by software, rather than software driven by hardware. Sony faced the same challenges and did slightly better but not good enough. Though it still makes Walkman multimedia devices as well as PCs, smartphones, and video game consoles, and owns its own music label and movie studio, Sony continues to look for hit hardware products and always seems to find itself trailing in the newer platform markets.

Google

Google’s platform was initially the Internet, based on a better search engine. But Google made its technology nearly ubiquitous on PC desktops with the downloadable and free toolbar. It then built an Internet portal, replete with email, maps, applications, storage, and other features, to surround and feed the search engine. Google monetizes its leadership position by selling targeted ads that accompany searches. But Google has not stopped there. The company realized years ago that most computing would one day be on mobile devices. So Google bought and then refined the Android operating system (which is based on Linux) and created the Chrome browser to facilitate mobile computing (and mobile searches as well as advertising). Google is now the largest smartphone OS provider and plans to challenge Apple directly by acquiring Motorola’s mobile phone business. But not even Google has done everything right. It was slow to see the importance of social networking. It has been trying for years (with limited success) to challenge Facebook and create a coalition of partners to gain access to more social networking and social media content—again, presumably, to sell more search and advertising.

The lesson here? Again, platform
leaders must force themselves to think
broadly about their platforms and
business models while extending their
technical and marketing capabilities.
Google has always focused on search,
but computing has been moving be-
yond the desktop for years and even
beyond the Internet—to multiple de-
vices as well as applications and con-
tent that reside within both open (such
as the Internet) and closed (such as
Facebook) networks. Moreover, Google
has challenged the modus operandi of
the computer industry—proprietary
technology. Its software platform for
mobile phones and other devices such
as Netbooks and tablets is both free
and open. It is difficult for companies
that charge for their technology and do
not have large advertising income—
like Apple and Microsoft, as well as
Nokia—to beat free and open.

nokia

This Finnish company remains the largest producer of cellphones, and its Symbian software has been a dominant platform for basic handsets. However, mobile sales are quickly moving to smartphones that require more sophisticated software. Not surprisingly, Nokia has seen its market share, market value, and financial performance suffer dramatically as RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone handsets, and a variety of devices from different companies running Google’s Android software, have come to dominate the market. Nokia removed its CEO and is now led by a former Microsoft executive, Steven Elop, who recently announced plans to abandon the Symbian operating system as well as another joint OS project with Intel. Instead, Elop wants to use Microsoft’s Windows phone software for Nokia’s next generation of smartphones.

The lesson here? Once more, we see that platform leaders must be prepared to evolve and even discard their technologies and sometimes their business models as well. If they fail to develop new technology internally or find suitable acquisitions, they may well find themselves adopting the platform technology of a competitor. We shall see what happens to Nokia, but the future does not look very bright.

 

microsoft and apple Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO since Bill Gates handed over the reins in 2000, is often criticized for not being able to

Calendar
of Events

october 16–21 International conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, Wellington, New Zealand, Sponsored: SIGSoFT, Contact: Thomas Kuehne, Email: [e-mail]

october 16–19
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Santa Barbara, CA,
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october 17–19
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