A Rake Too Far?

Trying to keep my head above water pre-Nor-Shipping but I was passed this blog post by a longtime colleague who drew a parallel with the Inmarsat Service Enablement Platform which will manage access to software and services once Global Xpress is up and running.

This was with the benefit of his company having been involved with early vendor meetings and having come out scratching his head.

This will be one of the ‘other’ tests for Inmarsat, its service partners and the market as a whole after the launch of GX – how far it can leverage an advantage from the SEP and deliver real value without getting greedy and risking alienating both its partners and end users.

The piece is not maritime satellite-specific but it discusses the successes and failures in other markets and how software and hardware makers react when they realise what the impact of the rake will be on their business. Set aside a little time as this is a long, if thoughtful and insightful read.

Gems abound, from the practical: “High volume combined with a modest rake is the perfect formula for a true organic marketplace and a sustainable competitive advantage,” to the cautionary: “There is a big difference between what you can extract versus what you should extract” and the Zen-like: “Water runs downhill.”