The Skype
Economy Do you have a product or a platform? More and more
companies are recognizing that the real route to success is not to
offer a product, but a platform on which other products are
offered. With that in mind, we're seeing more and more products
that are building up strong and active development communities that
make their initial offering more useful and valuable to buyers.
Recently there have been articles about the ecosystem of companies
who provide enhancements for the iPod, and now some are
recognizing that Skype is moving into similar territory. Of
course, the risk for companies or developers who build on these
newer platforms is that they're totally beholden to the provider --
and that puts them at risk. They have no control over the
environment they're working in. Skype could decide to build the
same functionality themselves. Or, other products could become more
popular than Skype. Sometimes it works... but many companies don't
realize the danger of putting all their eggs in one basket. If they
pick the right platform, it can be lucrative for a while, but it's
not always easy to know who's going to win. [via Techdirt]
If the underlying platform is standards based
then there is some protection (you can switch platform wholesale or
a segment within the platform), otherwise, it's a count down to the
inevitable. Anyplatform provider that isn't standards based
(where standards exist in their realm), will always attack
ersthwhile partners as part of its growth needs. This is a
consistent and time-proven industry pattern.