Re: Re: Good new for OS choice - Mr Wembley It's Happening Again...
That article is really interesting and I reckon it shows exactly how this is going to play out - just like it did on the desktop and and in music.
Case in point, "Let's not develop an OS of our own, we can Licence that new Windows" naturally led to commoditisation - who now makes any *real* money out of X86 hardware apart from Apple?*
Case in point "We're tired of squabbling between ourselves, so let's use iTunes" naturally led to Apple have stitched that market up.
Much as I dislike them, as I understand it Sony Music were more or less the only player to realise the implications of the iTunes deal but by the time they'd beaten their head against the hardware division for a few years the die was cast and it was game over.
As far as I can see a mix of old and new players are now thinking purely tactically and saying "Why bother developing our own OS when we can licence Android". In five years time, if no one breaks out from this model in a strategic way (like Sony seem to be thinking) who apart from Apple and Samsung, who seem to be the only two to have the brand muscle to charge a premium will be making any *real* money in Smartphones or Tablets?*
I have to say, I have a lot of respect for Samsung on this one, they're taking the generic OS and building a premium hardware business on the back of it, which I reckon takes some real skill and guts. And if Sony manage to execute on this, I think they'll do very well. But of course everyone knows how all Sony execute strategy...
Oh and why the f*ck are Apple always in the mix on the "winning" side in these strategies? :-/
* Of course Microsoft and Google do very well out of these lemmings - I can only deduce that hardware manufacturers just *love* to be flogged to death for little return or simply don't realise how important the software stack they choose to us is...