This paper addresses how the open innovation concept, as recently coined by Henry Chesbrough, can be analyzed from an industrial dynamics perspective. The main proposition of the paper is that the specific modes in which different companies manage open innovation in regard to an emerging technology reflect their differential position within the innovation system in question and the stage of maturity of the technology. The proposition is analyzed through an in-depth study of the current transformation of sound amplification from linear solid-state technology to switched or digital technology within the consumer electronics system of innovation.