How Important Is Playing Nice?
Why did the one time market leader, Apple, lose so much market share that at one time they were no more than an after thought in the worldwide desktop computing industry?
Why, as of March 2007, has Apache served 58% of all web sites worldwide (cite)?
Why is Friendster no longer popular?
What is Second Life one of the fastest growing Virtual Worlds?
Ok, But Do You Really Need To Be Nice?
My answer is no. No one ever said you needed to be nice. In fact, in business I don't think that anyone really expects you to be nice, but it is this very lack of expectation that may give you an unpredicted lever which may just tip the scales in your favor. Sure, business and markets can be war, but that does not mean that they must be a full on attack. Unlike head to head combat modern business often requires a more subtle strategy that takes in to account all facets of the market you are in, as well as all complimentary markets that may only be noticed in the the nuances of of that market.
Shut Up And Tell Us Where You Are Going With All This!
Ok, OK!
As a self proclaimed fan of Apple, but someone who refuses to continue to be one of those self righteous fan-boys that refuse to see anything but what they want to see, I am thrilled with the recent movements by Apple.
For a while I was really getting sick of the arrogance coming out of Apple, but yesterday, June 11, 2007, Apple announced a few things that illuminated their further dedication to working with their users as well as competitors.
The first announcement, not as earth shattering but still important (as it is not the first time that Apple has opened up software to PC users) was the fact that Apple has thrown their hat into the cross platform browser wars, announcing Safari for windows. I must admit that I use Firefox on my Mac and Flock on my PC, but this news still excited me and I still downloaded Safari to my PC. The implications here go beyond the personal computer. This announcement comes at a time when Apple is going after the mobile market, and if they think they can take the mobile market without being cross platform friendly, they have another thing coming. This however is not the case and, just as with iTunes Apple has realized that the way to world domination is by employing a strategy that is inclusive.
On to the iPhone.
There was no way that I was going to get an iPhone. I use outlook at work as well as various other PC apps. There is no way I was going to subject my only means of mobile voice communications to platform confusion. Well, perhaps this will not be the case after all. Apple has announced that they are dedicated to supporting third party Web 2.0 applications and to the developers who create them. Perhaps I will reconsider the iPhone.
Web OS Where Are You?
For a long time I have spoken about, thought about and prayed for the coming a a true Web OS. An interoperable platform capable of diminishing the importance of a local terminal and creating open source ubiquitous computing. We are on our way, but not there yet. Both Apple and Google have been devoted to the very same dream. Microsoft and Yahoo, where are you!
Tags: Apple, iPhone, Desktop, Web OS, Apache, WWW, Second Life, Virtual Worlds, Business, Marketing, Friendster, ubiquitous computing, yahoo, microsoft