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Walled gardens as misguided metaphor
Neven Mrgan’s reaction to the term “walled garden” as something that can be described as despicably closed, when the benefits of having something that is closed and cared for can also be of immense beauty:
A software store is not an actual garden, not literally. But enough people have used this metaphor that it’s worth thinking for a second about what it’s actually supposed to mean.
I’m assuming we’re supposed to compare this approach to the freer alternatives such as community gardens and city parks. Ignoring for a moment the fact that these gardens are also regulated by serious restrictions on what one can and can’t do, it still puzzles me that the ‘walled garden’ is presented as an obviously undesirable structure.
Recommended reading for everyone that wants a nuanced view on the closed app store vs. open web discussion.
— The Walled Garden – Neven Mrgan’s tumbl.
Nokia’s take on Apple
For the past years, Nokia have been run over by Apple in the high-end mobile market. Their N95 came out around the same time as the iPhone, and it was touted as a direct competitor, even though most people who tried the N95 were more likely to wanting to stab themselves in the eyes. It was a horrendous phone, and from what I’ve read, the N97 and N8 isn’t any better.
With this in mind, it makes me happy reading the following from Financial Times about Marko Ahtisaari. It’s because of guys like Marko, Adam Greenfield and Jan Chipchase (who left recently) that Nokia can remain relevant in mobile market.
Read this:
“‘I still think the whole industry is missing a trick,’ said Mr Ahtisaari during a meet-the-press session in London yesterday. ‘All the touchscreen interfaces are very immersive. You have to put your head down. What Nokia is very good at is designing for mobile use: one-handed, in the pocket. Giving people the ability to have their head up again is critical to how we evolve user interfaces.’
Given humanity’s growing fixation with staring at glowing rectangles, any innovation that helps improve off-screen interaction really would be ‘social change’, as Mr Ahtisaari puts it.”
Nokia shouldn’t design for the iPhone-crowd. They’re already well on their way to losing that bet (if they didn’t already), but the mobile world is much much more than upbeat American college students — after all there are 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions and only 50 million iPhones.
Also, he points out that there’s a lot of potential in social data about maps:
That doesn’t mean Nokia won’t try to bring more “social” elements and personalisation into its own services. “I think as we move into the MeeGo platform, [there will] more and more layers of value above maps … and social data about maps – other paths that people you know have taken through cities.”
It’s in statements like these you can feel the importance of having great people in your company.
Whether Nokia will deliver or not, the future will show. It doesn’t look too good:
