Essentially, the future of the convergent industry is in service provision with globalization and personalization spurring consumer demand.
Meanwhile, more industries are growing "long tails" or employing a niche strategy to sell smaller volumes of services. No service provider can meet all demands. This means that a large number of service providers will emerge. To match massive supply with massive demand requires an integrated platform to serve both sides and put them together.
In the future, the primary operational mode for large players will be as integrators of massive services. Google, Apple, and Microsoft are all striving to achieve this goal and so are operators.
Everyone could survive in this market environment, but who will gain a bigger market share? The key is to open the platform and gain as much partner power as possible. This is the fundamental reason why concepts like Web2.0 and P4P (Proactive Network Provider Participation for P2P) have been hyped up in recent years. Yet, service integrators must have commanding positions and profit points, otherwise openness becomes a non-profit enterprise. By studying the leading players and their strategies, we possibly can draw some conclusions.
After the iPod turned out to be an overwhelming success, Apple continued its involvement in the information service industry. Apple's control point is terminals, which attract a large number of fans with fashionable design, high technological sophistication, and ease of use. But these elements alone can not overturn the traditional business model or make operators willing to share their revenue.
More importantly, through its App Store, Apple enables numerous independent software vendors to develop various applications using iPhone software and hardware, to better match iPhone users' personalization requirements. These applications are only sold through the iPhone and App Store and this channel has become one of the primary 3G service flows for operators.
Apple can share revenue with operators thanks to the iPhone's popularity and the impetus it gives to 3G services. Certainly, Apple's main control point is the superb user experience created by its software and hardware, which stems directly from Apple's highly capable innovation.
Google's situation is just the reverse when compared with Apple's. It boasts a very powerful search engine platform, but offers no support for terminals. For this reason, Google has developed Android, a terminal operating system, and offers free source codes with it. This move has turned out to be quite powerful.
After Google provided the source codes, terminal vendors from around the world and even some personal studios were able to design terminals on the platform. At the same time, software companies and even personal software developers internationally can develop various applications. The synergy can beat any company that develops applications independently. Despite the openness, Google does not let it roam freely, but keeps it on a short leash. Its control point lies in strong search applications and the powerful supporting"cloud computing" networks.
Android mobile phones can provide a wide range of popular applications that are closely associated with searching, such as:
ShopSavvy: a tool for comparing prices, turning G1 mobile phones into bar code scanners. When scanning the bar code of an item, it searches prices at various sites on the Internet, so that users can get the best price.
Wikitude: a special search tool for travel, used to help users find their destinations. Along with an introduction from Wikipedia, gives travel tips and other information.
Shazam: music recognition software. Whether the song is played on the radio or an audio system, when the mobile phone is directed at the source of sound, it can recognize the title of the song and the singer.
MyCloset: is used to take pictures of clothes in the wardrobe, classify them, and mark the seasons that they are worn.
Cab4Me Light: a simple application providing a taxi company's telephone number according to the user's location.
These applications are all highly relevant to searching. So why did Google spend so much money to develop Android? What is the profit point? It's definitely not an altruistic act of public service. The profit point is actually search-based, targeted advertising and various services. For example, after recognizing the song, Shazam may provide downloading services and recommend related songs and then a cost conscious consumer can use ShopSavvy to get the best deal.
