Being "open" is very fashionable in technology circles at the moment. Whether you are creating an open platform, open source, or an open standard it's important to be seen as open.
Openness has proven very successful for industries in the past - if we look at the global success of GSM this couldn't have happened without an open standard enabling interoperability between products from different vendors. The open standard here has increased consumer choice and reduced cost to both consumers and the industry as a whole.
This pattern isn't always repeated though.
If we look at the global success of Apple's iPod - with over 70% of global MP3 player sales, and with the iTunes Music Store now accounting for over 25% of US music sales this very closed system has been voted a success by consumers - in spite of cheaper MP3 players and cheaper music stores, it seems a closed system can win.
Amazon is now repeating this model in the electronic book market with the Kindle an end-to-end solution consisting of hardware, software and retail experience for delivering books. In spite of the fact there is much lower cost competition from book retailers, in both paper based books and eBooks, the Kindle appears to be a growing success, even though it's only in one market to date.
What can we learn from these successes? The challenge that someone creating an end-to-end solution faces is that they have to think about every aspect of the consumer experience. It's no longer good enough to rely on "someone else" fulfilling billing, or discovery of content, or the delivery of the final goods - there is one clear owner, who carries the responsibility - and cost, of developing the experience, and reaps the rewards of success.
Getting an experience right is important - more important than scale. Those with long enough memories will recall that the iTunes Music Store in europe launched 2 full years after the initial iPod launch, much to the frustration of iPod customers in Europe. Amazon look set to repeat this structure with the Kindle.
At the end of July the BBC released it's latest consultation on the Canvas project - an approach by the BBC, and some commercial partners to set an end-to-end solution for the consumption of internet connected TV. It's interesting to explore their approach to control of the end to end experience - as set out in the diagram below
(extracted from Canvas supporting documentation)
The level of control that the Canvas team believe is needed is interesting - to quote section 2.5 of the same document
The Canvas partners believe it is essential that the proposed Canvas venture take a role in defining and managing a user experience (UX) to access content on any Canvas device. In order to repeat the success of Freeview the Canvas platform must attract a wide range of content providers and be adopted by a large number of people, two objectives which are mutually reinforcing. A consistent UX will be vital to ensure they are met for a number of reasons, Specifically:
1. Reducing barriers to entry for content and service providers, stimulating innovation and choice and democratising access to the television screen
2. Underpinning a consistent consumer brand to protect scale in the horizontal market for device manufacturers and advertisers
3. Ensuring the benefits of connected television are understood and enjoyed by all audiences
Control of the end-to-end user experience is key to ensuring the adoption of a new solution, and opening up of the possibilities of internet connected content on a TV - from On demand TV, to interactive content.
This approach puts the Canvas JV in an extremely powerful position in the UK TV market - as the value proposition of Canvas is easily communicated to consumers "Get BBC iPlayer content on your telly" it is likely to be a rapidly adopted success - with the result that the Canvas JV will have an ability to influence the direction, and consumer adoption of new interactive, IP delivered content in the UK.
Given the influence of the UK market on global TV viewing, and the unique ability of the BBC to fund creative, innovative concepts that use the Canvas platform it is likely that the success of Canvas will be repeated around the world - no wonder the BBC's commercial JV partners are keen to invest in the success of Canvas.
As a UK consumer I hope the Canvas project does come to market with a complete end-to-end vision - as while it may increase the cost of the content, it's also likely to increase the quality of what is achieved, and open new opportunities for content innovation.
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