Unleash Tow Trucks on the Cloud Computing Super Highway

Defining ownership

With the migration of content into the cloud, what defines ownership is different from what we have traditionally understood. Take the recent brouhaha around Amazon's "seemingly" unilateral decision to remove an improperly licensed e-book on its Kindle reader, this could not have happened had you bought a physical copy.

While some have argued that there is a distinction between enterprise usage which focuses on value-creation and consumer usage which focuses on consumption, it feels artificial to me. After all, without consumption, there is no value to be created.

Possession vs Processing

If we look at the decades long battle between music industry and music pirates around the world, a reasonable conclusion is to say the (physical) possession-oriented way of looking at the world is no longer a viable option. Instead, the key value-creation is based on processes.

If this observation feels familiar, it is because the real world for most of us in the developed and late-stage developing countries is already there where service is a much more important part of the economy. In other words, it is nice to own assets, but it is what you do with your assets, tangible or otherwise, that really counts.

Can you drive a tow truck?

The emergence of Cloud Computing is making it easier for services to be added to the assets owned by enterprises and individuals. So, instead of trying to reconcile between Amazon zapping an e-book vs. physical ownership of the same, a more apt parallel could be the interaction with a tow-truck when your car is inoperative on the road where both sides follow a specific set of rules to obtain the desired service.

Does this mean that we should all aspire to be tow-truck drivers as vital service providers on the Cloud Computing Super Highway? Lest we forget that the real money is made by the auto insurance company who brokers the interaction between you and the tow-truck driver.

* A Cloud over Ownership: http://www.technologyreview.com/web/38391/?nlid=nldly&nld=2011-08-24

Googorola and Smartphone Ecosystem 2.0

Google + Motorola Mobility

Okay. Unless you have been kipnaped and gone off the grid in the last week, you have heard about what likely will be considered the deal of the year, Google buying Motorola Mobility (MMI) for $12.5bn.

The most obvious reason is that Google is in serious need of strong patents and in great multitude in order to protect the Android ecosystem that it has built in the past few years after failing to secure the Nortel IP portfolio.

Fear, aspiration, and other reactions

Having the patents from the granddaddy of the mobile handset, Motorola, puts Google in a much better/equal footing with the likes of Apple and Microsoft/Nokia as far as the on-going proxy war in Smartphones are concerned. On one hand, this could potentially re-enforce the alligance of Android makers such as HTC and Samsung to the eco-ystem by minimizing uncertainties for the long term (the existing legal actions between Apple and these markers still need to be played out, but the outcome is likely to be more favorable to Android makers if Google gets involved in a multi-party licensing arrangement.)

On the other hand, by becoming the owner of a handset maker, Google has to maintain the tricky balancing act of ensuring that there is no hint of favorism with Motorola. For now, Android handset makers have expressed support for the acquisition, although, as the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding - we shall see what happens in the next 6-12 months. There has also been alternative scenario proposed suggesting that given the proliferation of Android handsets (300+ as of latest count), Google could be in a position to use Motorola to create reference designs for the whole eco-system so that the end user can get the maximum benefit of Android phone through streamlined design/production. Honestly though, it is hard to see how Google can do this with Motorola in its present form unless it plans to trim MMI down to an expensive hardware lab.

An area that is worth thinking about is how do the telco think about this. While iPhone has been a boom for the likes of AT&T, the consensus is that Apple is capturing most of the profit and accolade while the operators are stuck with footing the bills for massive capital expenditure and handling user complaints. So, what does the creation of another Apple-like 800 pound gorilla in GOOG/MMI mean? So far, the reaction has been very muted.

How about consumers? There was a fun naming competition at WSJ for the rest of us where the readers get to vote for a name for the transaction. The winner is Googorola - the people have spoken. Beyond the thrill of instant veiwer particilation, there was a suggestion that Google will offer free smartphone as an extension of its multi-side platform business model. Since, unlike software which is virtually free once written, hardware comes with a BOM (bill of materials) for each unit, not sure if that would ever happen with the current ecosystem. On the other hand, if you extend the scenario to the model of fab-less IC design houses, it may be a good time to think about who will be, or indeed think about starting, the next TSMC for handsets.

Did you know - a few loose ends

Finally, on the patent front, given Apple's aggressive legal actions, it is interesting to note that Palm (HP, for now) is the only company that Apple has not gone after. Both Apple and Microsoft are siting on a big pile of cash right now. (I am just saying.)

On the smartphone technology front, it is probably worth noting that Mozilla is starting a project to build a smartphone browser that aims to do to smartphone ecosystem what its FireFox (internet browser) has done to the PC ecosystem by rendering Microsoft's operating system playing second fiddle as users migrate to Cloud Computing. Given the success of Mozilla and Firefox, this is a highly credible project. However, with the on-going battle between iOS and Android instead of a dominant platform like Microsoft Windows, this vision may take a while.

* Google buying MMI: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/supercharging-android-google-to-acquire.html
* Android Partner quotes: http://www.google.com/press/motorola/quotes/
* Google taking charge of Android Ecosystems: http://www.lightreading.com/blog.asp?blog_sectionid=217&doc_id=211132&f_src=lrdailynewsletter
* Telco and other poentail losers of the GOOG/MMI deal: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/who-are-losers-googles-125b-acquisition-motorola/2011-08-16?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
* France Telecom "Like" GOOG/MMI: http://allthingsd.com/20110815/u-s-carriers-silent-on-motoroogle-but-france-telecom-gives-it-a-thumbs-up/?mod=mailchimp
* Verizon hoping for peace on the patent war front: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-hopes-google-motorola-deal-will-cool-patent-wars/2011-08-17?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
* Does this mean I can get a smartphone for free from Google now? http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2011/08/17/are-free-motorola-phones-in-our-future-a-vc%E2%80%99s-take-on-why-google-is-buying-motorola/
* Readers have spoken, Googorola it is: http://allthingsd.com/20110817/googorola-triumphs-in-snarky-nickname-poll-over-12-5b-bid/?mod=mailchimp
* Apple may fear Palm's (HP) patents the most: http://allthingsd.com/20110819/could-hp-turn-a-profit-on-palms-patents/?mod=mailchimp
* Mozilla/Firefox's Plan B: http://www.technologyreview.com/web/38308/?nlid=nldly&nld=2011-08-15

Check your Cloud Computing SLA

It happens

It is not fair to pick on Amazon who runs, by all account, a first rate operation for their cloud computing service. But, being the best also means any glitch is highly visible as was the case in Ireland and Virginia. I am reminded of the incident, about 10 years ago, where one of our site in the east coast was down because some gas work around the datacenter severed the connection physically. (And, what is it with East Coast locations that would go down?)

Thinking about SLA

In light the Cloud outage, it is worth reminding oneself the idea behind SLA, service level agreement. It is NOT mainly a technical document that specifies how the hardware are used. It is NOT mainly a legal document that aims to put fear of god into the operators. It is FIRST and Foremost, a document that articulates your business requirement and how this (cloud computing) service can support your objects. What this also means is that you have to articulate a plan B that would support the business goals.

Then, you are ready to talk SLA and make intelligent trade-off's.

* Lightning strike zaps EC2 Ireland: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/saas/lightning-strike-zaps-ec2-ireland/1382
* Short-Lived Amazon Cloud Outage Takes Down Several Sites: http://allthingsd.com/20110808/short-lived-amazon-cloud-outage-takes-down-several-sites/?mod=mailchimp
* Were Amazon's Outages Inevitable? http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/27072/?nlid=nldly&nld=2011-08-11