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)

► MORE

August 3, 2009

Verizon cuts smartphone prices to $99 – and this could be good for appstores .

Verizon cuts smartphone prices to $99 .

In the previous post, I said that increasingly we will see people buy a combination(package) of apps and devices.

The Verizon trend is likely to catch on. It’s hard for device manufacturers to make money on $99 retail. So, I suspect that we will start to see people buy devices and apps together.

This is interesting and apps could be a real a differentiator going forward

See also the approach with the INQ1. Cool social media phones and we see a trend where the software(and Web services) becomes more important than(and integrated deeply with) the hardware.

Qs is: Are phones becoming more like consoles?

In a sense, they always were. (given for free) but the difference is: Are the ‘titles’ (mobile apps) going to make a difference when people buy phones – similar to titles on gaming consoles?

Consider this – I start to use specific apps. so when my next upgrade comes I want to use those apps and also more..

Substitute ‘consoles’ by ‘phones’ and ‘games’ by ‘apps’ .. and you have an interesting scenario ..

Thoughts?

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Filed under: Uncategorized — ajit @ 6:12 pm

Comments (2)

2 Comments »

Besides Iphone, which have both the brand and the App infrastructure (and volume), this is a very unlikely path. Said that I do think Internet Content (sometimes in the format as Apps) will be a major driver when people bye phones in the future. Our belief is that you need a universal mobile interface (UMI) to easy access and share all Internet. As well as a simple way for Internet vendors to go mobile without thinking on handset or carrier – just using existing services
Read more at: http://universalmobileinterface.wordpress.com/
Or this is an example of you going mobile with Open Garden: http://tinyurl.com/n6eq7y

Comment by Aage — August 4, 2009 @ 8:21 am

Who owns the customer? That’s the question that always gets asked and most people would rightfully say that nobody “owns” the customer. On the other hand, carriers especially in the US and Verizon in particular have always acted like they own the customer. You get choice, as long as you are happy with what they have pre-selected for you… We don’t need 27 different poker games, we just need one good one. And we decide what is good, dear customer. In many respects the current app stores are the same, they just happen to be under different dictatorship;-) The console business has always been like that, if Nintendo/Sony/MS doesn’t want your game on their platform, it’s not on their platform.
The same models are getting into the PC business as well with the netbooks and there the same battles are starting to emerge. Do you buy your netbook from Verizon/AT&T or HP/Dell/Apple? Who “owns” the customer or more approriate who owns the customer relationship and the experience?
Looking at all these developments, seems like the battlefield with Apple, Google, Sony, Nokia, Microsoft, Vodafone, China Mobile and a few others will be just as interesting to watch in the future as it is now…

Comment by Peter Vesterbacka — August 4, 2009 @ 8:50 am