Go-to-Market Strategies & OS Partnerships
Thumtronics has four different strategies for getting the Thummer to market, depending on the kind of deal it can make with future investors.
1. US Independent: Bring the Thummer to market as in independent US firm, climbing up The Long Tail from low-volume “niche” sales in the first couple of years to high-volume “mainstream” sales thereafter.
2. Chinese Independent: As above, but partnering with a Chinese OEM of electronic musical instruments to complete the Thummer’s engineering and undertake its manufacturing.
3. OS Partner: Partnering with an operating system (OS) vendor – Apple, Microsoft, or Sony – to bring Thumtronics’ innovations to market.
4. Open Project: If all else fails, assign Thumtronics’ IP to a non-profit organization which can lead the open, non-profit development of Thumtronics’ innovations.
The Independent options could lead to an OS Partnership, with an OS vendor buying Thumtronics after its products’ potential had been proven in the marketplace.
Why would an OS vendor care about Thumtronics?
OS vendors such as Apple, Microsoft, and Sony are currently fighting a pitched battle to control the technology standards for connected entertainment, including music. This competition has been most obvious to consumers in battles over “downstream” music data formats, such as AAC, WMA, and ATRAC. OS vendors are also competing to gain similar proprietary advantages “upstream.” One example is Apple’s Core Audio, which Apple says “let you do things that are simply not possible on other platforms.”
Thumtronics’ innovations are sufficiently disruptive that an OS vendor could use them to add proprietary value to many of today’s music technology standards (aka embrace and extend or de-commoditization), making its platform even more attractive to the creators of musical content, and giving it greater influence over downstream music-related standards, too.
Any one of Apple, Sony, or Microsoft would benefit from a partnership with Thumtronics, albeit each in different ways.
1. US Independent: Bring the Thummer to market as in independent US firm, climbing up The Long Tail from low-volume “niche” sales in the first couple of years to high-volume “mainstream” sales thereafter.
2. Chinese Independent: As above, but partnering with a Chinese OEM of electronic musical instruments to complete the Thummer’s engineering and undertake its manufacturing.
3. OS Partner: Partnering with an operating system (OS) vendor – Apple, Microsoft, or Sony – to bring Thumtronics’ innovations to market.
4. Open Project: If all else fails, assign Thumtronics’ IP to a non-profit organization which can lead the open, non-profit development of Thumtronics’ innovations.
The Independent options could lead to an OS Partnership, with an OS vendor buying Thumtronics after its products’ potential had been proven in the marketplace.
Why would an OS vendor care about Thumtronics?
OS vendors such as Apple, Microsoft, and Sony are currently fighting a pitched battle to control the technology standards for connected entertainment, including music. This competition has been most obvious to consumers in battles over “downstream” music data formats, such as AAC, WMA, and ATRAC. OS vendors are also competing to gain similar proprietary advantages “upstream.” One example is Apple’s Core Audio, which Apple says “let you do things that are simply not possible on other platforms.”
Thumtronics’ innovations are sufficiently disruptive that an OS vendor could use them to add proprietary value to many of today’s music technology standards (aka embrace and extend or de-commoditization), making its platform even more attractive to the creators of musical content, and giving it greater influence over downstream music-related standards, too.
Any one of Apple, Sony, or Microsoft would benefit from a partnership with Thumtronics, albeit each in different ways.
Labels: de-commoditize, embrace and extend, operating systems, partnerships, strategy, Thummer
posted by JimPlamondon | 9:14 PM
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