I am starting to wonder if the authors had enough material for a book with their ideas. I say this as each chapter seems more drawn out and repetitive. This book should have been shorter.
With regards to the chapter, e-bay already operates as an alternative sales channel. Many firms use e-bay to sell excess inventory. They no longer need a fire sale. Instead, just post the items on e-bay and sell to the world.
Videogames are a great example of mash-ups. Many users will go into the source code of games and modify it or “mod” it to create new games. The most famous example is counter-strike, a mod of Half-Life. This mod was so successful that the creators of Half-Life bought the mod and sold it.
CNN has user generated content. Users can send photos or videos from their cell phones to the network and get credited for it. This allows for instant news.
Amazon prices change every time someone searches for something. If there are a lot of searches for an item, the price goes up. They have been sued for this several times and lost, but the practice continues.
Opening up the code does not work for all companies. Google is extremely proprietary of its code for searches. Giving that up will lose the company’s competitive advantage. The authors talk as if this is the only way, but it depends on the firm’s strategy. It should be done only if it is in line with the firm’s goals.
2 comments:
I wonder how Amazon gets away with that form of price discrimination. E-bay is sort of the same thing, but I guess by calling it an 'auction,' letting the price reflect the popularity of the item is ok.
I do agree that the book is highly repetitive, mashups is an excellent idea, but I do not agree with your comment on Google though. While your first half of the comment makes sense as Google is extremely successful without opening its source code, there is no proof that it is due to that and we don't yet know if it would lose its competitive advantage if it opens up.
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