bevter, yes there is a bit to get a non-tech head around. I'm no...

bevter, yes there is a bit to get a non-tech head around. I'm no geek, but am in the industry.

Good luck with the graphics, will be interested to see what your creative juices bring forward! But maybe the solar system is a useful explanatory model...

The sun is the Platform, without it we got nuttin! And the various Apps revolve around it. Some Apps, like Freeway, are substantial and useful, value-adding, if you like. The Platform creates the environment where they can thrive and grow, from there it is true Darwinian theory...only the fittest survive. Think Earth or Venus maybe. Some are just inadequate competitors = dead planets...even though the platform supports them, they don't have enough going for them to prosper...maybe Neptune. Some are detritus...lumps bouncing around but adding nothing in the Asteroid belt.

But the Sun is all-important. A platform is expensive and complicated to construct, but if you get it right, its leverage and competitive advantage are truly compelling and leveraging. The Tata white label original deal and subsequent upgrade are the definitive proof we have that killer platform. And while we don't have all the ins and outs of the US partners' environments, some of us think its pretty likely that CSP is at the core of their strategies.

Hope this is not too simplistic.