Best Innovations in 2007
Bruce Nussbaum and various innovation luminaries will be offering a panel at Davos this year discussing the best innovations of 2007. Sadly, the conversation seems to be focused on products (with a couple exceptions).
I would suggest that ecosystems and platforms point to the best innovations in 2007, or any given year…
- Amazon had a big year in innovation:
- Led the charge to DRM-free music downloads (shifting the online music ecosystem that is dominated by Apple and setting the stage for a major re-thinking of intellectual property protection).
- As picked by Larry Keeley, Kindle - which may have some challenges building share given American’s overall apathy to reading, but is aimed at creating a new market. Sadly DRM hobbled and locked down to the point that it may not make the leap to becoming a platform.
- Amazon’s Web Services stack rounded out in 2007 with all the bits and pieces to run an entire system in the cloud.
- Much less covered by the TechCrunches of the world, DayJet gained traction providing private plane convenience for business air travel at prices competitive to major airlines (because not everyone has a Halo). DayJets mesh network model for air travel has the potential to disrupt regional hub-and-spoke carriers. I particularly like their Time Value Pricing transparency vs. the pricing voodoo of traditional airlines.
- It’s in the focus on the product over the platform that may trip up the OLPC initiative, though that remains to be seen. Designing the educational ecosystem that integrates XO laptops is a colossal challenge and opportunity.
Finally, the biggest (though far from best) innovation story of 2007 isn’t about technology, it’s about finance. Subprime loans and repackaged paper were deep innovations in finance that have had vast unintended consequences. Let’s hope more positive innovation can salvage the economic outlook in 2008. What platforms or ecosystems do you see shifting and forming this year?
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