So why isn't every company taking the lead of market leaders like Facebook and Google and opening up their platforms and API's for third party developers to monetize?
Dave Winer hits the nail on the head when he writes:
"Scoble wants an SDK
(from Apple) so developers can create cool iPhone apps. Of course I do too. But I
doubt it's going to happen anytime soon. Look at all the deals they can
do if they don't. Starbucks wouldn't need them if there was an SDK. And
Tulley's could do their own, as could Peet's, and Whole Foods, etc etc.
Apple wants all that business, I'm sure. And they want to be able to sell Starbucks an exclusive. They couldn't if there was an SDK."
So while I'm personally a huge proponent of the open platform movement, I agree with Winer that not every business development person will see it the same way as I do.
Right now if you sit in Cupertino, exclusives are still what you believe will drive your business forward. It's all that you know so you rely on it to get you to where you want to be.
But it doesn't appear that exclusives are in the DNA of Facebook and Google. And so they take a very different path to success.
Is one better than the other?
I guess it all depends on who you are and the specific decisions that you end up making.
The problem I have with the exclusive deals that Apple has been making lately is that the two most recent ones, AT&T and Starbucks, are with companies that, at least for me, hurt Apple's reputation rather than help it. If you are going to make exclusives at least make them with brands that are making their way into the hearts and minds of consumers, not those that are on their way out.
