Open Gardens

Wireless mobility - Innovation - Digital convergence - mobile web 2.0

 

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by Ajit Jaokar and Chetan Sharma

About Open Gardens

Open Gardens is published by futuretext

Recently, the OpenGardens blog was rated amongst the top 10 mobile blogs as per technorati stats.


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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 and 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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November 5, 2008

The success of the Smule sonic lighter: Are VCs/ mobile business models valid? Maybe we are looking at Mobility too seriously..

smule sonic.JPG

UK sales of games will outstrip music and video for the first time in 2008 – and yesterday evening I was having a discussion about mobile apps .. The usual questions – what will people pay for and why etc etc etc .. Discussions we have been having now for the last eight years or so ..

But the success of games in the UK reminded me of this techcrunch story .. What Is The Deal With This Stupid Lighter iPhone App?

Here’s why people are going crazy for Sonic Lighter, and are willing to pay $.99. Smule has built in social and viral features that are helping this spread like mad, and they also give this ridiculous but effective incentive to use the app all the time.

You can optionally share your location information with the application, and when you light it you show up on a virtual earth-like globe. France and Japan are going absolutely crazy with users,

Maybe we are taking the whole idea of mobility very seriously .. Maybe people will pay for a fun, engaging application. Contrast this with a real utility based application LBS for £1.79? Vicinity app on the iPhone. What does it say for the Context – location based services business/ revenue model?

If we contrast sonic with vicinity, then many of the business models and revenue projections are just plain wrong because – in my view – it is not possible to create a business model for a ‘game’ or a ‘viral application’ – recession not withstanding ..

Yet, VCs, investors etc want focus, predictability and a straight and narrow path.

If we come back to the spirit of entrepreneurship, then maybe the VCs are all wrong. In their desire for exit and predictability, they are missing something very fundamental .. that there can be no focus when you start a new venture. There will be a number of paths – and a compass .. the actual route may vary .. and maybe we will have a lot more fun along the way with the rise of Android and iPhone i.e. distribution models for mobile applications – and the only people who wont ‘get it’ will be the VCs!

Thoughts?

Image source: techcrunch

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Filed under: Uncategorized — ajit @ 3:00 am

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Open Gardens is published by futuretext