[p2p-research] opening up the iphone

Sun Mar 15 05:02:38 CET 2009

Dear p2pf readers:

while the issue of the continuing existence of the p2p research list is
being solved (or not), I'm temporarily forwarding p2p research material,
this may persist until Monday.

At the end of the day, I will decide to switch to using the p2pf list for
research material and discussions, and those who subscribed for other
reasons, may want to unsuscribe.

Except 4-5 items per day,

Michel

On 3/15/09, marc fawzi <marc.fawzi at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Michel,
>
> Here are some notes that I hope to get some help in turning into a
> full blog post (due to severe time constraints over here)
>
> ~~
>
> The following are some notes in response to the WSJ article regarding
> the emergence of hacker-founded startups that aim to profit from the
> sale of "jailbroken" games and applications (that may otherwise not be
> approved by Apple for sale on the iTunes AppStore for whatever reason,
> e.g. adult content or applications that undermine Apple's closed
> business model) and liberate the market for iPhone games and
> applications.
>
> Notes:
>
> . Customers who "jailbreak" their iPhones (i.e. allow it to run
> unofficial software) are not likely to pay for games and applications
> at the iTunes AppStore or at any other store because the hacker
> culture, which underlies the jailbreaking trend, is predicated on the
> idea that software should be free. Therefore, the "paid" jailbroken
> market is expected to remain a very limited niche market (e.g. limited
> to porn and applications that compete with Apple's existing or planned
> applications and services, which, thus far, have been much better
> executed than those of the competition) and is therefore highly
> unlikely to put a dent in Apple's iTunes AppStore revenue.
>
> . Apple may benefit from having a small gray market for the relatively
> small percentage of customers who do not normally pay for apps/games
> at the iTunes store AND are willing to take the risk of a voided
> warranty (and potential damage to the jailbroken device caused
> deliberately by future Apple firmware updates) since the existence of
> such a market would keep such customers from switching to Android or
> other open mobile platforms.
>
> . Apple will be announcing a Premium AppStore for the iPhone and iPod
> Touch that will feature sophisticated games and applications (to run
> on the next generation iPhone hardware) that will cost as much as $20
> per download. A "paid" jailbroken market where games and applications
> sell for $20 is not realistic because, once again, the primary reason
> people jailbreak their phones is to run free games and applications.
>
> Having said that, it's very possible for certain developers (and
> consequently the jailbroken market operators who sell those
> developers' software) to make substantial profit from adult titles or
> applications in the non-Premium price range of $0.99-$1.99 that offer
> great missing utility which Apple may wish to have as part of the
> iPhone OS but has not yet thought about.
>
> So far so good. Apple, the developers, and the market all benefit.
>
> The serious issue for Apple comes about when a developer decides to
> patent a certain critical utilitarian feature that is missing from the
> iPhone OS and that Apple has not thought about (and has not patented)
> and offer it for sale through an independent store. In such a case,
> Apple will not be able to shutdown that developer's revenue or take
> away their leverage which gives that developer the ability to battle
> Apple in court and force them paying license fee for use of the
> developer's patent. In other words, the emergence of hacker-founded
> jailbroken markets is empowering to the developer, and while Apple may
> benefit from such 3rd party markets they will ultimately force it to
> open up it's business model.
>
> However, such change won't come overnight; and it may take up to a
> decade before Apple realizes that it has to strike a better balance
> between sustaining the current production parameters and embracing
> openness since closed production systems are destined to die, no
> matter how well they're put together.
>
> But that's not to say that open production systems survive longer just
> because they're open; since they must also have a balance between
> sustaining competitive production parameters and openness.
>
> In other words, the notion of a purely open or purely closed
> production system is reflective of flawed thinking that can only
> results in the demise of the given production system.
>
> Marc
> p.s. I'll blog this when it's done on Evolving Trends, too.
>
> On 3/14/09, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Marc,
> >
> > Monday is fine, no problem!
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 12:59 AM, marc fawzi <marc.fawzi at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> I had commented on this publicly on Venture Beat and elsewhere when the
> >> developer program was announced back about a year ago.
> >>
> >> More recently, I've been thinking a lot about how Apple does business
> and
> >> why their products are phenomenally better than those of the
> competition,
> >> even when the competition is Google. In other words, I have looked at
> >> both
> >> the pros and cons of being a closed system vendor.
> >>
> >> The only problem for me now is I'm off the grid and internet access is
> >> sporadic, and so is my bandwidth.
> >>
> >> I can write a post and send it to you by email before Monday. Let me
> know
> >> if that works for you timing wise.
> >>
> >> Unrelated: I did send photos of the ranch here and the solar stuff with
> >> learning notes etc but it was too large so it's awaiting moderation
> >>
> >> Marc
> >>
> >> On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 2:27 AM, Michel Bauwens
> >> <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:
> >>
> >>>  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123629876097346481.html
> >>>
> >>> Dear friends,
> >>>
> >>> this is a story that I would like to see covered on our blog, any
> >>> takers?
> >>>
> >>> Michel
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Working at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
> >>> http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html -
> >>> http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
> >>>
> >>> Volunteering at the P2P Foundation:
> >>> http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net -
> >>> http://p2pfoundation.ning.com
> >>>
> >>> Monitor updates at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens
> >>>
> >>> The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
> >>> http://www.shiftn.com/
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> p2presearch mailing list
> >>> p2presearch at listcultures.org
> >>> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Working at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
> > http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html -
> > http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
> >
> > Volunteering at the P2P Foundation:
> > http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net -
> > http://p2pfoundation.ning.com
> >
> > Monitor updates at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens
> >
> > The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
> > http://www.shiftn.com/
> >
>

-- 
Working at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html -
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

Volunteering at the P2P Foundation:
http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net -
http://p2pfoundation.ning.com

Monitor updates at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens

The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
http://www.shiftn.com/
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