When Elon Musk made his bold annoucement on Tesla's Official Blog, it took the entire tech industry by surprise. Patents are the new world ammunition that high tech companies use to keep their competitive stance and hence Elon Musk's decision to open up all of Tesla's patents for public use was unconventional to say the least.
The internet had a field day and many people wrote great blog posts with their point of view. Let me present a couple of theories that I thought were interesting
1. Crowdfunding his entire R&D program:
This blog post suggests that Elon is a smart individual who realizes that he cannot single handledly change the industry on his head mostly because he is fighting legacy and accepted norms of energy source for automobiles. The article suggests that by having the patents available for public use, Elon Musk hopes that other companies will have lesser resistance to look into building electric cars.
2. Self confidence in their own ability to out-do competitors on innovation
The article claims that Tesla is a highly talented company that can actually put to use the patents better than anybody else. The article calls this move by Elon very futuristic and ahead of its time. It suggests that Elon's fight is not against other car companies but against the energy industry. He wants other auto makers to be his allies to tackle this problem. The most fascinating point of view is one that calls Tesla an Energy Company and not an automobile company. The Tesla car is only a tool used to drive the point home
MY TAKE
I personally think its one or all of the following:
1. Elon Musk and Tesla have a problem which is popularly know in industry jargon as single source vendor issue. When typically companies use vendors for their products they ensure that there is atleast one other vendor who is capable of supplying the same part (comparable quality and price) as their primary vendor. This is a way for companies to ensure continuous supply during emergencies. Now imagine, common people(in Tesla's case- fairly rich people) as the companies and Tesla to them is a Vendor. When customers have more choice in their electric car (and its battery) suppliers, then Tesla's market share could actually go north. People will have an alternative for their electric car or battery needs and give them a path to mitigate risks.
2. Elon Musk has a personal passion or goal to ensure that alternate forms or energy are given a serious look. He also owes the investors greater market share and profits in the near and not-so-far long term and for that he has to solve the demand problem. He has to generate enough supply first to start getting additional demand. This is counter intuitive but its the unique nature of the problem
Conclusion: This decision of his is a way to show his commitment to his own passion and to his investors. Smart and Bold!
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