[p2p-research] open-source gadgets have the best chance in markets where the technology has matured to the point that it is commonplace.

[Samuel Rose]

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 8:10 AM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Do people here agree with this thesis, see
> http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=25B8CB70-1A64-67EA-E4D482E1CEBA3792
>
> But can such gadgets succeed against those developed by established
> commercial manufacturers with deep pockets? Mark Driver, a Gartner analyst
> who specializes in open source, thinks that open-source gadgets have the
> best chance in markets where the technology has matured to the point that it
> is commonplace.
>
> "Open source is about commoditization," Driver says. "These products are
> taking a market where there really isn't a lot of concrete differentiation
> ... between what's out there and providing an alternative, which is exactly
> what open source does right. Linux got wildly popular not because it did
> something new; it's because it did what Unix did, but did it in a much more
> open fashion."
>

When price comes close to zero, and demand on commodities begins to
niche, specialize, and dynamically change over time consistently, most
of those with deep pockets tend to head for the exit door of that
perceived market. This tends to leave a void. I think open source
succeeds where products are commodified, for the reasons the author
describes. The condition allows commodity high-supply/low demand
markets to become "long tail" markets, by virtue of the ability to
flexibly adjust and customize the base "product". The void is filled
by way of transformation of the nature of the market. This usually
requires people who are closer to understanding the needs of some
parts of the "long tail" of needs. This tends to mean that there are
now many providers who serve many customers they are familiar with,
instead of a few big ones selling to a "mass".



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