Jibo should pursue a platform strategy at launch using an open source developer model. The open source model empowers both the consumer and developers in the ecosystem. Developers see Jibo as a opportunity to create programs for a completely new platform, who’s limits have yet to be explored. Consumers, on the other hand, have the perception that social robots are the future and crave new, innovative skills from these robots. While a closed source platform would better protect the company’s intellectual property (IP), it would delay launch significantly and detract from the desired consumer and developer experience. At the time of the case, the Jibo management team is deciding exactly how they plan to roll out the Jibo robot. After a successful crowdsourcing campaign and Series A funding round of gathering ~$23.5 million, Jibo is racing towards delivering the product to market. One of the major questions revolves around …show more content…
The more obstacles put in place for developers, the harder it will be to get traction, so Jibo needs to tread carefully. To start off, Jibo should give the SDK’s to whomever wants to use them. As applications get developed, Jibo needs to have a proper vetting system for which innovations can be added. The developer should not have to agree to any terms up front, but just be aware that all developments will go through Jibo before being available to the public. Therefore, this mitigates the creation of illegal or vulgar applications. As the ‘open’ source model progresses, Jibo should take note at which ‘open’ source developers are doing the best and seek to form a hybrid sourcing model. In other words, Jibo can strike a ‘close’ source deal with very popular ‘open’ source developers to start and build an IP base. Over time, this implementation will help Jibo succeed in the exists tech landscape that continually becomes more