The Anti-Walled Garden Story
How to Build a Moat by Tearing Down the Walls
Everyone wants to be Apple.
Everyone wants a “Walled Garden” - locking users in so they never leave. It’s the gold standard. It’s safe. It’s profitable.
But the most impressive business victory I’ve watched in the last decade didn’t come from building a higher wall. It came from tearing the walls down completely.
I admit it. I’m a bit of a gear-head. If you ask me why I’d pick the Sony a9 III with its global shutter over the higher-resolution a1 II just to kill rolling shutter and sync flash at 1/80,000th of a second, I can talk your ear off all day long.
But you don’t need to be a photographer to understand this lesson.
This is the story of the Sony Alpha, and it’s a masterclass for any leader trying to disrupt an incumbent.
Part I - The Fortress of 2010
Rewind to 2010. The camera world wasn’t just a market; it was a fortress.
Two giants, Canon and Nikon, controlled nearly 75% of the professional market. Turn on any NBA game or the Olympics, and what did you see on the sidelines? A sea of white Canon L-lenses.
They didn’t just have market share; they had a moat made of glass.
This was the era of the “Lens Tax”. If you were a pro (or dream to be one), you were married to your system. Switching brands meant selling $20,000 worth of glass for pennies on the dollar. It was financial suicide.
And if you tried to buy a cheaper third-party lens from Sigma or Tamron? Good luck. Back then, those companies had to reverse-engineer the autofocus algorithms. The result was hunting focus, missed shots, and a general feeling that you were buying “second-class” gear.
The message from the giants was clear: “If you want professional performance, you pay our tax. There is no other way”.
Sony had amazing sensors (they made the engines for everyone else!), but they had zero lens ecosystem. They couldn’t out-Canon Canon. If they tried to build a walled garden from scratch, they would have starved to death before they laid the first brick.
Part II - The “Anti-Walled Garden” Playbook
So, they did the exact opposite. They looked at the “Walled Garden” playbook and threw it in the trash.
On February 8, 2011, Sony made a decision that looked insane to the industry giants: They released the basic specifications of their “E-mount” for free.
While everyone else was suing reverse-engineers or charging massive licensing fees, Sony practically handed the blueprints to Sigma and Tamron and said, “Come build in our backyard. We won’t sue you; we’ll help you”.
It was the ultimate “Trojan Horse”!
Playbook Move #1: Weaponizing the Competition
Suddenly, the math changed.
While Canon and Nikon shooters were stuck waiting for expensive proprietary glass, the Sony ecosystem exploded.
Sony didn’t just invite “cheap” lenses; they invited innovation. Sigma launched their legendary “Art” series - lenses that were optically sharper than Canon’s for half the price - and they worked natively on Sony.
I watched friends switch systems not because they liked the Sony menus (let’s be honest, nobody liked the menus back then), but because the ecosystem was simply smarter.
Scenario A: Buy a Canon body + 1 expensive first-party lens.
Scenario B: Buy a Sony body + 3 incredible Sigma Art lenses for the same price.
Sony realized they weren’t selling cameras; they were selling a platform. They let others make the profit on the glass, so they could win the war for the sensor.
Playbook Move #2: Tearing Down the Internal Wall (The “One Mount” Magic)
This is the strategic genius that often gets missed. Sony decided that one mount would rule them all.
Look at the chaos of their competitors. Canon had EF for DSLRs, EF-S for crop sensors, EF-M for their failed mirrorless experiment, and eventually RF. A confused mess of adapters and incompatibility.
Sony said: “Whether you buy a $500 vlog camera or a $6,000 cinema beast, it’s the same E-mount”.
This removed the internal friction of upgrading. A beginner could buy a pro lens and grow into it. A pro could buy a compact APS-C camera as a “B-cam” and use their master lenses on it instantly.
They didn’t just respect the user’s investment; they respected their intelligence.
Part III - Now - The Overtake
Critics laughed at first. “Why give away your IP?” “First-party lens sales are where the profit margins are!”
But the strategy worked.
By 2018/2019, the “impossible” happened. The electronics company overtook the optical giants. In the full-frame mirrorless market, they held the #1 spot for years before the giants finally woke up.
Sony realized something the others missed: In a digital age, the Network Effect is more valuable than the Moat.
On one hand - the walled garden of the competitors - beautiful, manicured, but lonely and expensive.
Now on the other hand - Sony’s “Public Park” - chaotic, diverse, crowded, and thriving.
The Takeaway: Stop Trying to Be Apple
We are conditioned to believe that “Walled Gardens” are the only way to win. We confuse control with strategy.
But Sony proved that if you are the challenger, a wall doesn’t protect you. It isolates you.
The brilliance of the Alpha strategy wasn’t just “openness”. It was leverage.
They didn’t try to beat Canon’s 50 years of lens manufacturing.
They weaponized the rest of the industry to do it for them.
Sometimes the best way to build a moat isn’t to dig it yourself. It’s to let everyone else bring their own shovels.
So, here is the hard question:
Look at your current strategy. Are you building a platform that invites an army of allies? Or are you just building a lonely fortress?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
#BusinessStrategy #OneMount #SonyAlpha #OpenInnovation #Marketing #Photography #UnderdogStory #Leadership