Open Gardens

About Open Gardens

Open Gardens is published by futuretext

Rated 8/10 on Blogged.com

About The Open Gardens Blog

I (Ajit) founded the blog on May 26, 2005 based on my vision and philosophy of OpenGardens i.e. the philosophical opposite of 'walled gardens' especially as applicable to the mobile data industry.

Today, the OpenGardens blog is one of the few blogs that span both the Web and the Mobile domains.

The blog covers wireless/mobile applications, open networks and mobile web 2.0. My vision behind the OpenGardens blog has been :

The blog is about the Mobile data industry and Digital convergence('Mobile web 2.0')
Analysis is more important than story/controversy. I don't believe that bloggers are true journalists. The blog is not about the latest 'story' but it's more about independent analysis/viewpoint
The OpenGardens blog is broadly about opening up the networks, growing digital usage and digital businesses i.e. we don't advocate closed networks, broadcast media etc
It is about disruptive digital technologies

Founder & Chief Blogger Ajit Jaokar

Ajit Jaokar is the founder of the London based publishing and research company futuretext (www.futuretext.com) focussed on emerging Web and Mobile technologies -including Web 2.0 and Mobile Web 2.0.

His thinking is widely followed in the industry and his blog, the OpenGardensBlog (www.opengardensblog.futuretext.com), which was recently rated a top 20 wireless blog worldwide

In 2009-2010, Ajit was nominated as part of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Internet by the world economic forum. He hopes to use this opportunity to further extend the pragmatic viewpoint of the evolution of Telecoms networks in an open ecosystem.

(Note: The Network of Global Agenda Councils plays a significant role in shaping the global agenda by monitoring global issues and elaborating recommendations to address them. Each Council, comprised of 15-20 Members, serves as an advisory board to the Forum and other interested parties, such as governments and international organizations. The Global Agenda Councils also act as the intellectual drivers of the World Economic Forum's Global Redesign Initiative, an unprecedented international, multistakeholder and multimedia dialogue that aims to develop a 21st-century vision of global cooperation. Members of the G20, the UN and other International Organizations have pledged their support for this initiative. )

Ajit is best known for his books Mobile Web 2.0, Social Media Marketing. Two new books ('Open Mobile' and 'Implementing Mobile Web 2.0') are being released in 2009.

His consulting activities include working with companies to define value propositions across the device, network, Web and Social networking stack spanning both technology and strategy. He has worked with a range of commercial and government organizations globally including The European Union, Telecoms Operators, Device manufacturers, social networking companies and security companies in various strategic and visionary roles

His recent talks and forthcoming talks include: CEBIT 2009;MobileWorld Congress(2007, 2008, 2009); Keynote at O Reilly Web20 expo (April 2007);Keynote at Java One; European Parliament – Brussels – (Electronic Internet Foundation); Stanford University's Digital visions program;MIT Sloan;Fraunhofer FOKUS ; University of St. Gallen (Switzerland); Mobile Web Strategies (partner event of CTIA in San Francisco)

Media appearances include BBC – Newsnight – 3phone launch; CNN money; BBC digital planet

Ajit chairs Oxford University's Next generation mobile applications panel and conducts a course on Web 2.0, Social networking, Mobile Web 2.0 and LTE services at Oxford University.

Ajit lives in London, UK, but has three nationalities (British, Indian and New Zealander) and is proud of all three. He is currently doing a PhD on Privacy and Reputation systems at UCL in London. Ajit is a fan of animation especially Tom and Jerry, Tintin and Asterix and likes the music of ZZ Top and other rock bands

You can contact me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com

You can follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AjitJaokar

See a video of my talk at CEBIT in Hannover
(intro in german - presenttion in english)

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June 12, 2007

iTunes as a delivery mechanism for Mobile Widgets ..

Here is a thought ..

Currently, application discovery is the key issue ..

Extending this to Mobile Widgets, the question is ‘How will people discover Mobile Widgets?‘

If iTunes(and I am using this generically, i.e. trying to illustrate the concept through iTunes – anyone could do this – for instance Nokia or Opera) .. were to be used to deliver iPhone widgets .. then .. it has some unique advantages ..

That is been hinted HERE

>>>

NPD analyst Rubin sees iTunes as being one possible vehicle for delivering applications to the iPhone. Besides giving users a familiar interface, it will also give Apple the chance to certify applications for the device.

For example, Apple tightly controls all development of software for the iPod. All games developed for the iPod are distributed by Apple via the iTunes Store, rather than being made available for individual download on developers’ web sites.

<<<

This would be good .. But my qs is: even today, sites like handango do offer application downloads ..

So, qs is: What would iTunes do differently?

Does the fact that you will have content + apps together for download .. help apps(Widgets) download? (I think it will)

i.e what I am saying is: sites like handango are used by techies ..

Its when Joe(and Jane) public start to ‘discover’ mobile apps, they will take off

We already go to the iTunes store to get content. The process of application discovery(specifically widget discovery) is but a natural extension

Actually, this could be an interesting insight because anyone could sell content and apps together (like widgets) along with it(not just Apple)

Consumers would be drawn to content .. but in the same process could also start to explore widgets ..

Adds William Volk:

Normally, selling mobile content sans a P-SMS arrangement would be the kiss of death BUT 99%+ of iPhone users are going to have a iTiunes account anyway. Unified billing is unified billing so this could work. There’s even a RINGTONE tab in the new iTunes (Google the story). So yeah, widgets and ringtones from iTunes.

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Filed under: mobile web 2.0 — ajit @ 10:01 pm

Comments (1)

1 Comment »

This all pre-supposes that iTunes understand that in the music industry in particular content is no longer king, it is the experience (context, quality, coolness and content) that captures the consumer’s imagination. I’m kind of prepared to believe they do get this. But I’m not sure that opening up the iPhone as a platform for 3rd party Mobile Web 2.0 developers in in the Apple way of doing things. If iTunes only provides Apple developed widgets, they might miss the point.

Comment by Simon — June 13, 2007 @ 9:23 pm