Walled Garden
Synonym for 'closed' approaches, whereby customers only have access to a particular service, cannot access outside services through itt, cannot export their data, and no outside applications can be built. The opposite are sometimes called Open Plain approaches.
Discussion
Walled Garden vs. Open Plain Strategies
"The tug-of-war between the walled-garden and open-plain strategies is a fundamental tension in many markets. For instance… Credit Cards
First, there was BankAmericard when it was exclusive to Bank of America. Then along comes Master Charge (later known as Mastercard) developed by smaller banks to compete with BOA and everyone could compete.
Personal Computers
Apple rolled out the Macintosh and Microsoft countered with Windows and ran away with the desktop computing market.
Hosanagar Wharton a professor of operations and information management believes that the open-plain approach makes the most sense in the long run. By restricting the ability to develop applications, you ultimately limit the utility of your own product or service for consumers and thus its value.
Google has taken an open approach with its Google Maps service. It provides a mechanism by which other outfits can integrate or “mash up” its maps into their web pages. That has encouraged other companies to use the service.
YouTube, which Google bought last year is another. With YouTube, anybody can upload any content and offer it. The customers are the broadcasters of openly available content." (http://freethinkr.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/the-walled-garden-strategy-loses-another-one-ftcom/#respond)
Walled Gardens as a threat to free E-Speech
"free speech online is threatened by “walled garden” services and technologies, in which the ISP or wireless provider determines what content the user has access to, what software the user can install, and even what formats are permissible for encoding audio or video. Walled garden services for the PC had their heyday in the 1990s (remember AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy?), but we are only beginning to see the extent to which they will dominate the Internet on wireless devices.
A great example of a walled garden is Apple’s iPhone. Spending several hundred dollars to purchase one doesn’t give you permission to install the software of your choice or distribute software to other users. Apple has already used its power to block software providers attempting to compete with Apple’s own software, such as the e-mail application that comes bundled with the device. Even more worrisome, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has acknowledged that iPhones are equipped with a “kill switch” that allows the company to remotely delete applications from your phone." (http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/20081024_e_speech_the_uncertain_future_of_free_expression/)