| I am not at all convinced by the author's logic. Take television for example. Yes, television has a platform. But perhaps the biggest mistake that broadcast television networks are making at this moment is that they do not broadcast all of their programming simultaneously on the Internet, ads and all. By becoming less hardware platform dependent, television broadcasters would gain viewers. It is not just, as the author says, that "the world is moving into platforms in decisive ways." The world is moving into certain _types_ of platforms--namely, to _portable, multipurpose_ platforms. Remember dedicated telephones from the pre-wireless era? Compare that to the typical smartphone today: the latter goes anywhere, and allows one to check on e-mail, to receive texts, and to look in on one's social networks. It's the multiple functionality that matters. The point: Dedicated hardware, of the kind that the author is advocating, is on the way out. Netflix is to be commended for _not_ coming up with Netflix hardware. It is much more competitive by making itself available over any computer, including all variety of mobile devices. |
But the millions of kindles that are sold today are definitely an advantage in the medium to long run. Same for all of Steve's devices. Given how powerful these devices are, they are not going away any time soon.