We’ve known for a long time that ExpressionEngine is built on top of CodeIgniter. But why is this important, and does it actually make any difference? Do we care? Should we care?
Well, at it’s current 1.6.x version I’ve never been that interested in ExpressionEngine if I’m totally honest. I’ve looked through the codebase, and after working with CodeIgniter for so long, I’ve just thought… ‘what a mess!’. It’s one of the cruel jokes of working with CI day in day out, anything not quite as beautiful just seems to look like a monstrous bit of code.
*Quick note* I’m going to be very careful not to break the beta T&C’s here.
After seeing the ExpressionEngine 2.0 codebase, and really looking into how closely it works with CodeIgniter, I might have actually changed my mind.
If you’re a CodeIgniter developer I would say this: You WILL be able to develop ExpressionEngine addons, plugins, as if you were just coding away in a CodeIgniter development. And this is where the 3rd party ExpressionEngine market will start going crazy.
ExpressionEngine development has previously been dominated by a few well-known companies and individuals. These are usually the guys who got on the EE bandwagon as soon as it hit the road and have been rolling with it since. Because of this they’ve had a great place in the 3rd party ExpressionEngine market. With only a select number of people to compete with, and the ‘experience’ and ‘reputation’ they hold, they’ve made successful and profitable businesses.
Then CodeIgniter enters the picture. There’s thousands of CodeIgniter developers all round the world, all varying in skill, but there are probably hundreds of very very good CI developers. Now, these are all in the perfect position to start expanding their range and entering the 3rd party ExpressionEngine market. In-fact, on twitter recently I’ve noticed that Jamie Rumbelow and Phil Sturgeon, both excellent CodeIgniter developers, are wanting to start writing 3rd party products for ExpressionEngine 2.0.
Will this be a peaceful merger or a hostile takeover?
You’ll have to bear with me for this section of the post, but please do, I think it’s a very valid question.
Right now the number of ExpressionEngine customers stands at just over 100,000 or so. There are probably less than 50 well-known companies or individuals who produce the best-selling 3rd party products. I’m aware that there are thousands of companies who build sites in EE, but I’m talking about companies who specialize in building 3rd party ExpressionEngine products and selling them for a one-off price, say $30.
Now, we add hundreds, if not thousands of CodeIgniter developers to this market and there could be some huge potential problems. Existing sellers may not like hundreds of potential competitors entering their market by ‘default’ when ExpressionEngine 2.0 launches. Their only comfort is knowing that ExpressionEngine 2.0 will very likely increase the overall size of the current 3rd party market.
Here’s an example
Solspace is a company who make plenty of paid-for 3rd party ExpressionEngine products. They’ve currently got module for sale that handles tagging. The price is $39.99
I could also build this for ExpressionEngine 2.0 with its CodeIgniter loveliness. And sell it for $25 (I can’t stand .99 pricing!). Now, it’s true that the ‘first to market’ product will always get the majority of purchases, but the following products to come to market can actually do better if they set their price-point right.
So, I build my module, I make sure it’s as good, if not better than the competition, and sell it for less.
I start making sales, increasing my customer base, and then, we have a real competetive market on our hands.
The outcome of increased competition
Ultimately, I can see several things happening here. First of all, the CodeIgniter developers just ‘entering’ the 3rd party ExpressionEngine market will find ‘first-to-market’ products. Modules that haven’t been build yet.
With this approach they can start selling their products without ruffling too many feathers. But, the new developers won’t be able to do this for long.
It’s only a matter of time before they realize that the best selling products already available through existing sellers is where the largest demand lies. Then, we begin an age of competition.
Before you all get carried away… Yes, I know there is currently competition in this market, but I don’t believe there’s a great deal. Not as much as say professional drupal modules.
So, what do we get from the competition? Well, the first thing to happen is a shift in quality. New developers will attempt to ‘out-class’ the competition with more features, better designs, and generally higher quality products. Once quality reaches a saturation point, it becomes inefficient to compete on quality alone. Then we see a shift in price. Both providers compete on pricing, maybe offering ‘membership’ or ‘batch’ pricing for loyal customers.
Overall, it’s great news for consumers. Competition almost always is. But it’s going to get much tougher for the developers out there.
