Facebook was one of the first and major Social Networking Websites to display the power of supporting third-party API investment. More recently, Apple has released the IPhone Human Interface Guidelines, providing in-depth information on the workings of the IPhone, how to design and program for it. The Open-Source logic applied to programming, or how I like to call it the “linuxanitsation” of platforms, is opening up a whole new world for Marketers to plan and devise strategies targeting more specific audiences. Although leading to the ever-growing gap in the audience’s fragmentation, this is definitely another step towards a Long Tail approach to Marketing.
You are no longer advertising on the New and Old Media - we are talking about the version 2.0 of New Media, where you have to go beyond the 360º approach and into the virtual X + Y + Z axis approach. A whole new dimension in the making!
Nokia is using the leverage of open-source logic to market new mobiles. Its latest ad campaign, entitled ‘Open to anything stresses what differenciate them from Apple. As many realized, iPhone latest software is not only re-locking unlocked phones but also disables third party applications. What’s the best approach? Even if iPhone blew away its competitors in the latest usability test , i still prefer the unpredictable creativity of open source.