cffg Could an open Sony beat Apple-_1886
Could an open Sony beat Apple?
In an interview with Nikkei Electronics Asia, Sony CEO Howard Stringer pledged that the company would use more open standards in the future, saying “If we had gone with open technology from the start, I think we probably would have beaten Apple” in the music market.
Sony is however leaning toward openness in the PlayStation Network (PSN) where the digital rights management is based on Marlin, an open scheme (yes, open DRM is an oxymoron) developed by consumer electronics companies and other companies that will allow other systems to participate in the PSN.
Being open doesn’t guarantee that a community or ecosystem will sprout up around a product. A company with Sony’s coffers could do a lot more to make its devices and content accessible to a broad range of developers who would seed the market and make it more money.
Via Engadget
“What does all this mean?” he added. “Very simply, it means that Sony has begun the transition from a closed system to an open one.
Sure, and if Sony had created a music store, a desktop application, and a great device, it could have won that way too. But it didn’t. Certainly, open technology would have helped to create some kind of ecosystem, but it wouldn’t have solved the strategic problem of creating a holistic consumer experience. Nor would it have made a difference in the fact that Sony owns a huge library of music that Apple monetized far more efficiently while Sony fought for CDs to outlive MP3s.
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Dave Rosenberg dishes up “Software, Interrupted” with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @dr138.