[G1]-PR7-Openess
Defining What Platform Users and Partners Can and Cannot Do

The challenges inherent in managing an open platform model

how

who

to maintaining high quality

while maximizing its accessibility to all users want to contribute to the platform

How open? How closed?

2009

Thomas R. Eisenmann & Geoffrey Parker & Marshall Van Alstyne

A platform is "open" to the extent that

an restrictions are reasonable and non-discriminatory

they are applied uniformly to all potential platform participants

why

affects useage / developer participation /monetization / regulation

Open or Close or Gray

the form of screening

human gatekeepers

community pressure

strategy

different level of openness

different kinds of openness

Apple's Mac operating system v.s. Windows operating system

Apple's mobile platform v.s. Google's mobile platform

balance between openness and close

no resrictions areplaced onparticipation in its development, commercialization or use

Being closed

not simply a matter of absolutely forbidding outside participant

but also involve creating onerous participation rules

may discourage /charging excessive fees(or rents)

the profit margins of potential participants are reduce below sustainable levels

the choice between open or closed not black or white

a spectrum between the two extremes

Jobs

recast the open/closed dilemma

fragmented / integrated

Asymmetry

the more open a system becomes

the more fragmented it becomes

more difficult to

encourages innovation

an infrastructure designed to falicitate interaction

among producers consumers of value

through core interactions to make exchange possible

information

goods / services

currency

a vibrant and healthy platform

depends on the value created by partners who are out of the platform itself

3 kinds of openness decisions

Decisions regarding developer participaation

Decisions regarding user participation

Decisons regarding manager and sponsor partcipation

decides who to let in

the form of feedback

encourages who perform well on the platform

select the user, edit content, and provide feedback designed to promote quality

time-consuming and costly

Four models for managing and sponsoring platforms

Licensing model

Joint venture model

Proprietary model

Shared model

One firm both manages and sponsers

Macintosh, Visa(after 2007)

A group of firms manages while one firm sponsers

Microsoft windows, Google android

A firm manages while a group of firms sponsors

CareerBuilder, Visa(prior to 2007)

A group of firms manages while another group sponsors

Android open resource, Linux

OPENING OVER TIME

Proprietary Platform

Shared Platform

From close to open

From open to close

Keep evaluate How to balance

Keep content and value

What to open and what to own

platform manager should seek to own it or replace the app which has the potential to become a powerful platform

platform manager should acquire the functionality and make it available through an open API, when functionality is reinvented by a number of extension developers and gains widespread acceptance by platform