Folks,
Openness in mobile is all the buzz these days - as a participant on a recent panel I participated in said: 'there is a profound and undeniable shift towards openness in mobile'. I've already been on a couple of panels on this topic, and a few more to go before the end of the year - clearly, people are thinking about this, discussing this endlessly, and trying to figure out how they fit into an 'open mobile world' - which is a major transition from how the mobile world has traditionally operated.
'Openness' is not limited to any specific concept. For example, in the mobile space, there is a significant drive towards: open operating systems (Symbian, Android, Linux, others I'm sure will come on the heels of these leading platforms), open browsers, open handsets (i.e. third-party handsets working on an operator's network without the operator sanctioning or approving these handsets), open access (i.e. operators allowing their consumers to browse the open web, off-deck portals, buy content off-deck, etc.)
What drives openness? Every market in the world has a tendency to shift towards openness, driven by one major factor - consumer demand. People like you, me, and everyone around us demands - choice, options, variety - in everything we purchase; so why not in mobile? It is this inherent consumer demand for choice that majorly drives openness.
I know we all want open access. We want to be able to purchase any handset we like, activate it on any mobile network we prefer, buy mobile content and services from wherever we like - just do what makes sense to us - without being handcuffed and seriously limited by the mobile powers that be!
And while this profound transition towards openness is indeed happening, in my opinion, there is one major roadblock that needs to be overcome: So long as you continue to call your network operator any time something goes wrong with your phone, or something goes wrong with an application you may have downloaded - openness and freedom in mobile will remain a mirage in the distance. Why? Because mobile operators worldwide are very concerned about the skyrocketing costs of customer support. This means that they will understandably continue to be severely quality conscious - which in turn means - they will continue to control what goes out where. There are no surprises here....if they have to take the cost of customer support, they want to control what they are supporting, and hence what consumers have access to...
Once we break down this barrier in a way that vendors of handsets/applications/services establish direct relationships with consumers, so that next time your app does not work you call the app vendor instead of your mobile service provider - then openness in mobile will thrive like never before. Isn't that how we operate in the desktop world?
...and of-course on the other side...once openness in mobile becomes real....we'll all enjoy a thousand flowers blooming - handsets of our choice, apps/services of our choice - whatever, whenever, from wherever.
And yes, openness will inevitably lead to an explosion in the developer community. Once those barriers that restrict us today are broken, consumers will demand more options across more channels - and I'm sure developers will be more than happy to oblige. In that mode one really important item that will still be needed will be more effective consumer discovery, evaluation, and education channels. The Apple App Store is a perfect example of something that has encouraged Joe Consumer to find out what his phone is really capable of - what is available for his phone - that his phone is not just for making voice calls - but for a lot more than that. In my opinion, a lot more needs to be done in this area to make openness as effective as it promises to be.
In short, openness in mobile is inevitable, as evidenced by the growing noise level on this topic, the growing number of eight-hundred-pound gorillas throwing their weight behind this drive - and above all - a natural consumer demand for choice. The sooner we effectively tackle issues of quality, customer support, and discovery - the sooner 'openness in mobile' will become what we all envision it to be...
