Open

Facebook is beginning to realize this, and it seems their realization is leading them down a glorious path; the path to OpenID. While we are not certain what it will mean, Facebook has pledged support for OpenID; the protocol that allows users single sign in access across any part of the web that has adopted it. Facebook has already created a successful product called Connect, but this product is not completely open; it does not adhere to web standards, and only sites that have implemented it, can take advantage of it.

Closed

On the flip side, I heard some news today that made me cringe. Apple (the king of the closet) is denying access to Facebook from many of their retail outlets–what!?

Pretty bad, huh.

I realize that people are probably abusing Apple stores; hanging out and loitering, checking Facebook etc., but denying access to Facebook is not the solution. Take a look at Starbucks,where people are invited to loiter, in hopes they will buy a cup of joe. Sure, this is a little different a, s iPods and laptops are not impulse buys, but the idea of, Apple Store as experiential marketing is not something that Apple should be messing with. Honestly, I thought that was the whole point of the retail outlet to begin with.

Will the future of media and technology be open or closed; what do you think?

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All successful brands tell a story. Apple tells us a story about people who “think different.” Pepsi tells us the tale of a new generation and Disney tells a story about imagination and childhood. These are classic American brand stories — cultivated through traditional channels and originated (to a large degree) by the brands themselves.

This is the way the world used to work. There is, however, a new world order when it comes to brand storytelling.

The notion that brand managers ever had total control over how their brands were perceived is a farce. Still, there was a time when brand managers had a greater degree of control. The rise of social computing and other emerging channels has led to the origination of brand lore in the most unlikely places. “Dell Hell” was not a story cooked up in the offices of Dell — it originated on a blog. On the flip side, tales of remarkable yet atypical customer service performed by Zappos employees would have been less effective if spread solely by the mouths of Zappos execs. These exceptional yarns were spun (again, to a large degree) by consumers and then amplified by mainstream media (with a little help from Zappos PR, of course).

The bottom line is that brands have less control than ever before — but that does not make them powerless. Creative strategies can get brands in front of audiences that were previously unreachable, and in a way that could endear consumers to a brand like never before. Brands do not always have to be front and center for an initiative to have an impact. In fact, sometimes it is best if a brand is not front and center. This allows consumers to tell stories to other consumers. And at a time when consumer belief in advertising is at an all-time low, C to C marketing is essential.

Read On at iMediaconnection

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Image via CrunchBase

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review outlined the notion of shaping strategies[i] as, “an effort to broadly redefine the terms of competition for a market sector through a positive, galvanizing message that promises benefits to all who adopt the new terms”.

In recent times we have seen many shaping strategies by various players in the digital space-some strategies are partial shaping strategies and others more complete shaping strategies. The notion of the shaping strategy is especially relevant in conversations surrounding recent progressions in the mobile sector. Some may consider the iPhone a shaping strategy-or an attempt to reshape an entire market sector.  While the launch of the iPhone certainly helped redesign the mobile space-Apple’s attempt at reshaping the terms of competition falls short in comparison to those of Google.

HBR outlines three interrelated elements of a shaping strategy;

• A shaping view
  • Helps focus participants
• A shaping platform
  • Provides leverage to reduce investment and effort for participants
• Shaping acts and assets
  • Persuades participants that the shaper is serious and can pull of the shaping initiative

While Apple has seemingly lived up to all three of these pillars, various actions (including active policing of the app store and draconian rules to govern it, as well as carrier exclusivity) have some in the tech industry questioning whether the computer giant will actually be able to maintain its stronghold in the mobile computing space.

The key differentiator between the two platforms lies in the difference in how the companies are approaching the second tenet of a shaping strategy. HBR breaks out a shaping platform into two forms of leverage; development leverage and interaction leverage. Interaction leverage reduces cost for a “vast array of participants to coordinate their activities”. Apple has only mobilized application developers to participate in their platform-Google has mobilized a whole industry.

The bottom line is as follows:

• Google will benefit from general widespread adoption of mobile computing-regardless of carrier or handset
  • Google will continue to monetize content no matter where it is consumed-this model is scalable
• Apple will only benefit from adoption of mobile computing if consumers are using an iPhone
  • This is the same predicament Apple got itself into in the early days of the PC

My prediction is that Android will be more pervasive than the iPhone in 2 years. You can take me to the bank on that.