In IBM we have Solutions – it’s enterprise-speak. The majority of them like this term because it differentiates from Products. When we talk products we mean things like IBM DB2 database, IBM Business Process Manager and IBM WebSphere MQ in the software world. These are the products of “old” – they use to come in real cardboard boxes, shrink wrapped and sat on a shelf. We still do that, but mostly we’re digital now 
In the Web world we use the product terms as well. Google has its product line – App Engine, GMail, Google+, Picasa etc. So does Facebook – it has Messages, News Feed, Photos that you know and love. Apple of course is similar again – it came from the traditional product stable like IBM with OS X, MacBook Air, iPhone, iWork etc. But of course they revolutionised the software product delivery model with App Stores.
Now the industry starts to talk about these web-based software products as “properties” – like real estate. What’s the difference between estates of products and platforms?
By one account you could see that maybe Google doesn’t get platforms.
Platforms come from creatives.
Zuckenberg might not have architected Facebook to be a platform in the beginning – but it is clear from Kirkpatrick’s insight in The Facebook Effect that platforms was part of his vision. Others such as Apple have us using platforms without us (the average consumer) even realising (or caring) – first iTunes, then App Store, next iCloud, and no doubt soon TV. Twitter wanted us to build around their platform from the outset.
Well built technology platforms are about good architecture, scalability and performance in mind and designed from the beginning. But the real route to success with platforms is the creativity.
What’s the data good for? What are the APIs that are going to be really useful for something? What could become of something that is greater than the sum of the parts?
So the platform explosion is happening. We are mostly seeing it in the consumer world. But the enterprises – the people you buy from of use stuff with – like a book or a bank account – they have the data. Platforms revolve around the data. The immediate data they have, the adjunct data they can join to – this creates insight, differentiation and monetisation.
Find the creative. Understand the data. Launch a platform. Create a market.
