- From NFGworld! http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/793-Attention-Sony-Microsoft-This-is-why-you-re-los Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:50:44 GMT FeedCreator 1.8.0-dev (info@mypapit.net) Attention Sony & Microsoft: This is why you're losing! (Free advice from a man in the trenches.) http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/793-Attention-Sony-Microsoft-This-is-why-you-re-los Microsoft announced that their Windows Mobile OS would include Xbox/Windows LIVE integration, providing access to a unified identity for the user.  Sony, never one to innovate before someone else, announced the same thing for their Sony Ericsson phones.

Sony CEO Stringer, in a dazzling display of witlessness, said:

"Leveraging PSN, we are building a new network service that will connect many more network-enabled products, including Sony Bravias, Vaios, and Blu-ray players," Stringer said. "To satisfy the demand for more open systems, and to broaden the array of networked devices connected to our network services, we are committed to extending that service to Sony Ericsson mobile phones."

Emphasis mine.

To paraphrase Mr. Stringer, "Because people want open systems, we're releasing closed code on all our proprietary systems."

Sony and Microsoft share the same old-fashioned, myopic worldview.  The very idea of building a closed platform (PSN or LIVE) and supporting it with your own closed devices is no longer viable.  Twitter threw the doors open and now everyone (Sony and Microsoft included) are scrambling to include access on their platforms.  The lesson here is simple: Make a valuable service and make it MORE valuable to ALL your customers by letting EVERYONE enjoy it.  Creating something cool and angrily controlling access in an attempt to monetize it does not work.

Twitter and Google and so many startups are running circles around the monstrously slow-moving Microsoft and the completely clueless old-man-club called Sony by throwing open the doors and making the things they create more accessible.

You don't win the war by making your shit harder to find, you fucking idiots.  No matter how big you are as a company, no matter how many pies you have your fingers in, and how many of your own devices your software's on, you still do not compare to the rest of the world combined.

And that's what you're fighting against. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:57:39 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/793#2270