Modularity and Innovation
Modularity and Innovation
This chapter performs a thought experiment using the “fashion industry” as a metaphor for market change and technological innovation. The high-end fashion industry offers an alternative metaphor for understanding how modularity could open up new patterns of innovation and redefine markets. The elements of current information and communication technology (ICT) markets are investigated in order to illustrate the potential of the fashion industry metaphor: Apple and the terminal market, convergence and content, the rise of the “Personal Network Platform,” and fundamental R&D systems. The chapter also addresses the five stumbling blocks: bandwidth, compensation for exchanging traffic, new competition problems, content market problems, and transactional inefficiencies.
Keywords: fashion industry metaphor, market change, technological innovation, modularity, ICT, Apple, Personal Network Platform, R&D systems
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