Mozilla has a bold strategy to create a new model of mobile OS by making HTML5 essentially a part of the operating system, creating an open developer framework for future apps. The question is whether they're sincerely trying to elevate HTML5 or to get back at Google for Chrome's success.
The divided mission problem is also a result of too much competitive myopia, Mary. First and foremost, B2G has to provide utility for its prime mission, which Mozilla says is to provide a vendor-neutral mobile development framework. Already it's being compared to ChromeOS, which isn't targeted at mobile at all. There's talk of providing the B2G application framework within a browser (Firefox, dare we guess?) to make it portable across more platforms. There's a serious risk of becoming an inch deep as a result of trying to be a mile wide.
Sure enough, Tom. Seems to me that focusing on a specific competitor is a huge mistake in any market, and particularly now, when the markets are so fluid, in the mobile space especially, and innovations seem to be propelling us things in a few interesting directions at once.
Difficult terrain to navigate, but it's vital to keep the big picture in mind and not simply react.
That's very true, Mary, and in the case of Mozilla they're also representing the Open Source community in this game, so there's a lot at stake for everyone. I've been a Mozilla user for years, but they've let themselves get behind the curve on development and innovation. I'd like to see B2G restore them, but they need to keep their eye on the ball and not on Google.
Thanks for a great blog, Tom. One takeaway I get from this is just how vital it is for companies like Mozilla to think their strategies through carefully, weighing the best approach to the markets, partcularly the mobile market. Given the competition and the stakes, miscalculating at this point could cost some companies their future down the road.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
50 billion household devices will be on the Internet by 2020, according to Cisco. And we're hearing foreign governments are hacking our infrastructure. Surely our refrigerators are next!
YouTube's move to a partial pay-for-view model could help relieve a dearth of good new content but it could also complicate debates in many parts of the world over payment by content providers for delivery of their material to customers.
That's what Larry Page said on Google's earnings call, referring to the conjunction of mobile and the cloud. Well, let's chart it then! We need to be thinking about an Internet where 90% of our traffic goes to 70 destinations within 40 miles of us.
Facebook's Graph Search may face some profound challenges and risks, first, because Facebook users haven't been thinking of their posts as product reviews; and second, because Facebook will now have to contend with the social-network equivalent of SEO "gaming" of results.
EU operators are considering joining up to create a pan-European network to reduce competitive overbuild and cost. This might lower costs and focus operators on higher-level, more interesting services.
The Amazon smartphone rumor and the Apple mini-iPad rumor show that the mobile device giants think they have to be in all the device spaces to win. Why? Because the cloud can create an ecosystem where every device can cooperate to support the user, and if you don't supply all the devices you miss out on the total value.
Mozilla's Firefox OS could be a major advance in building smartphones and tablets with a more cloud-friendly and open interface, but there are still questions of performance and security that will have to be managed.
Google Maps 6.0 helps users navigate indoor locations like IKEA and airports. While this sounds good, Nicole fears it will also breed dumber humans who bump into each other a lot, or something.
People are right to be disappointed by Apple's iPhone 4S announcement, but not because of the phone itself. Rather, they should be disappointed with Apple's lack of innovation with iCloud.
Google's Chrome and Web Store for Chrome are illustrating a new model for online services, a model based on payment and not just on ads. That may be critical for the Internet’s expansion, but will people really pay?
A Verizon/Google tablet deal not only shows that tablets are now driving the hardware/software bus, they're also capable of building new alliances between old foes.
Ushering in a new era of cognitive computing systems, IBM announced today the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor, a technology breakthrough that allows brands to crunch big data in record time to transform the way they engage clients in key functions such as customer service, marketing, and sales.
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