Winning in the new services world

I saw recently that there is speculation that Apple is going to go into competition with PayPal by producing their own multi-purpose payment system.  This would allow the iTunes and App store payment system to be applied to a wider range of participating products across the web.  I'm not sure why this seems to have been greeted with shock and surprise by the industry.  It is after all a logical move to further improve the return on investment they have made, and hints at a future where the enabling services are much more important than the products themselves.

This argument has been played out over the last couple of years within telcos where they are looking to develop enabling services that will allow their 'pipes' to remain 'smart pipes', rather than sliding into the negative spiral of becoming 'dumb pipes'.  Telcos have crown jewels such as their billing & authentication systems and their location systems.  For several years now they have been trying to work out how to expose these capabilities to a wider audience to generate a new revenue stream, and ensure they have skin in the game in the new communications services world.  Of course its not as easy as it looks.  Converting systems that have been developed for internal use, to having open public APIs is a very difficult process.  As any software architect knows, the mindset you use and the shortcuts you take in developing internal systems often makes it a uphill battle to broaden the use of those systems.  Scalability is of course the other big issue.  The TM Forum Service Delivery Framework program is all about helping service providers get a handle on issues like developing new servcies and on how to manage the new services environment.

So while Apple are heading in the right direction, they may not find it all plain sailing!