Sarah Rotman Epps’ blog entry on curated computing:
Forrester defines “Curated Computing” as: “A mode of computing where choice is constrained to deliver less complex, more relevant experiences”.
A consumer can do anything with a Windows PC or Mac, like run commands, install robust software, connect easily to peripheral devices, and save files locally. The iPad operates very differently. Its operating system works more like a jukebox than a desktop — consumers choose (and pay for) applications from a predetermined set list. Each of those applications is, in itself, also curated; the publisher selects content and functionality that’s appropriate to the form factor, just as a museum curator selects artworks from a larger collection to exhibit in a particular gallery space.
How does this apply to Apple’s iPad revolution and Google?
Curated Computing is the secret to Apple’s iPad success—it’s why, after two decades of experiments with tablet PCs, the iPad finally proves that tablets can be a viable form factor.
Curated Computing must also apply to the search engine results, and contextual advertising results, from the world’s most used search engine, Google.
From CounterNotions:
Just as Adobe is desperately trying to yell at the world, Don“’t buy into Apple’s walled garden, get locked into our own proprietary Flash,” so is Google trying to misdirect consumers’ attention from its own monopolistic sins to Apple’s mobile platform where 100 million users voted with their own money to enjoy 200,000 apps. The evil man behind the curtain in this scenario is not Apple’s curation, it’s the frightening prospect of Google getting cut off from search and ad revenue derived from its naked domination of the search box on top of your web browser. That, unfortunately, doesn’t sound like an appealing public cry, hence the “Curated Computing” misdirection whining.
Whenever competitors such as Google, Microsoft, and Adobe protest Apple’s position on an issue, I remember the oft misued phrase from Hamlet:
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Appropriate, nonetheless.
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