Platforms and strategy
Scott Loftesness makes an astute comment about the marketing of "platforms" in the age of Net services:
Companies that envision themselves as platforms have to evangelize very effectively. It's not about constructing moats around castles, it's about throwing great parties and inviting the brightest you can find!
The party is an apt analogy, because making a platform, like the PayPal services, the Google API, Amazon services or other tools that can be used to plug into a constellation of services, is about engagement of the intellect. You have to think about what you can do with these tools. They don't simply function, they have to be put into context to be useful, and that requires a lot of give and take with creative folks.
Posted by Mitch Ratcliffe at July 24, 2003 09:10 AM | TrackBack