On Closed Ecosystems
2 min read
Due to the popularity of Apple's App Store, some folks are tempted to go all in with the blanket statement that a closed ecosystem is a better experience for end users.
This statement rests on several misunderstandings.
- Apple's App Store is a closed ecosystem, and it works very well in selling Apple-approved products to consumers with Apple hardware and/or software. Other closed ecosystems have been less successful.
- Success does not equal universal adoration. Not everybody that owns an Apple product loves the product, the company, or the user experience of owning Apple. While the volume and enthusiasm of the small subset of users that are delighted with Apple would have us believe otherwise, we should not lose sight of the fact that Apple is a company that does some things well, and others not so well.
- Good user experience is both an immediate reaction and a relationship that unfolds over time. Part of user experience is in the immediate usefulness and elegance of the hardware, the user interface, and how they support common uses and needs. But another part of user experience involves how that complex relationship evolves over time. Given that Apple's high rate of device churn appears to be putting people on a path to have to toss functioning hardware in order to stay in the closed system, Apple's incarnation of a closed ecosystem has the potential to get increasingly bitter with age.
The degree to which an ecosystem will succeed or fail has more to do with how it is designed to solve a particular set of needs or problems. In the case of Apple's App Store, the effect of the marketing behind the products should not be overlooked. The advantage of open ecosystems is that when they don't work for a specific segment, the system is more likely to be improved by people who need the improvement. As just one example, how many people within education have ideas on how to improve Apple's Volume Licensing Program?
But in any case, the success or failure of a single ecosystem can teach us a lot about how system design factors into solving complex problems. The innate primacy of one approach over another is a more complex discussion.
Image Credit: "Lock" taken by walknboston, published under an Attribution license.
