Another perspective on Apple’s potential trajectory. I expect Apple will make it possible for other platform vendors to get involved (and, to be fair, Steve Jobs did clearly explain, during the keynote yesterday, that PCs will be iCloud clients), but with some subtle second-class citizen limitations.
Closed Ecosystem
The various Internet services Jobs introduced will only work with Apple’s mobile devices. That improves the chance customers will stay within its ecosystem of gadgets and services, said Gene Munster, an analyst for Piper Jaffray Cos. in Minneapolis.
“Apple is increasing the likelihood that consumers buy multiple Apple devices,” he said in a note to clients.
At the same time, Apple’s closed approach presents an opportunity for rivals, including Google and online file-storage service Dropbox Inc., said Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com Inc. in San Francisco, which offers cloud services to businesses. Those competitors can offer services that will work with different platforms, not just Apple’s, he said.
Steve Jobs Uses ICloud to Pick Apart Industry He Helped Form - Businessweek
2 comments:
There is a big difference in business models between Microsoft, Google and Apple, put bluntly, if you enter into a business where Microsoft is, usually 3rd parties can flourish, with Apple it is closed and under their control, you can flourish until they decide you shouldn’t, and Google simply kills the market as everything is free.
That said, there is a definite benefit to succeed with innovation if you have control over the entire ecosystem.
It will be interesting to see if iCloud will succeed, seems you have decided it will.
Thanks for the comments. I don't think iCloud will sweep away all competitors, but I do believe, e.g., when you consider that people buy iPhones that often don't work well as phones, and use iTunes despite the fact that it routinely overheats PCs, that many people will rush to use iCloud even if it has significant competitive limitations.
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