The question becomes: how to forge a strong position on a given link in the value chain by acknowledging the market’s multi-faceted nature? Typically, by adding third parties (developers, content providers, and so on.) to the classic target market of users — opening up one’s platform to them to help increase its value. What springs to mind, of course, is the openness of Apple’s App Store which, although relative and subordinate to the company’s interests, is a major contributor to the iPhone’s success. But, as IDATE will try to demonstrate during the plenary sessions and specialty seminars, platform-centric strategies and the debates they elicit over how open they should be apply perfectly to the central components of the DigiWorld.
- Open Web: How are social networks working to aggregate a set of Web applications to offer users a complete environment? (Bebo, Microsoft)
- Open Mobile: Are we moving towards a “platformization” of the mobile Internet? What role for cellular operators – having to contend with the forces that are Apple, Nokia and Google – which will help support their investments in 4G networks (LTE)? (Ericsson, Vodafone… plus a special seminar)
- Open Television: What strategies can managed TV players (broadcasters, pay-TV providers) implement to compete with video offerings online and on Internet-ready TV sets? (Yahoo! Panasonic… plus a special seminar)
- Open Telcos: How can operators forge themselves a path between the “dumb pipe” approach and a classic vertical integration strategy? (France Telecom, NTT, SFR, Telefónica, Verizon)
- Open Internet: Do we need to legislate net neutrality? How to distinguish between traffic optimisation procedures and self-interested discriminatory practices? (ARCEP, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Google)
