Is Microsoft Really a Dying Consumer Brand?
CNN is running a story with the headline "Microsoft is a dying consumer brand."
That's a bold statement, considering the strength that Microsoft has right now in the technology sector. The huge majority of the world's computers run on some kind of Windows, and much of the world's businesses rely on some kind of Microsoft productivity software.
That, however, is just in the realm of desktop computing. Businesses may still be in Microsoft's hands, but what about consumers?
In contrast, Apple has incredible strength with consumers, but doesn’t have a hold on businesses. Consumers are snatching up the iPhone and iPad to go along with their iPods, but businesses aren't running Mac OS X.
Even though Microsoft has done well with the Xbox, the Zune failed to take off, and now Windows Phone 7 has a battle ahead of it against the iPhone and Android.
Check out CNN's opinion here, and let us know if you agree or disagree!
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From what i can see the reviews for the initial WP7 handsets are generally favorable. Tough road ahead though.
I hope MS doesn't die, i like Windows.
I think Microsoft have learned some tough lessons the hard way over the last few years, mostly by not listening their consumers and going off on complete tangents as if in some kind of daydream.
Having said that, things do seem to be improving slightly - Windows 7 is everything it should have been, Windows Phone 7 seems very promising, Xbox is a deservedly successful brand, and their newer software suites (Office 2011, Visual Studio 2010, etc) are bang-on.
Microsoft need to focus on producing great platforms - this is what they're good at, rather than p**ssing money up the wall working on direction-less projects that have no plausible market whatsoever and ultimately get canned (I'm looking at you, Kin).
I quite like the latest batch of Microsoft products, and prefer their attitude toward customers and developers than Apple, so I hope they don't die either.
That said, Microsoft has an absolutely appalling image - even their name sounds antiquated compared to less generic-90's-tech-company-esque named competitors like Google and Apple.
Fortunately for Microsoft they still have a huge headstart, and hopefully have received a wake-up call over the previous decade from the steady erosion of their stranglehold of the market from the likes of Apple, Mozilla, and OSS in general.
I'd really like to see Microsoft let Balmer step down and put someone in charge who isn't stuck in a 1990's mindset, and rethink their attitudes towards working with others and giving consumers value for money. Trying to dominate every aspect of a user's device and overcharging them for it isn't going to work anymore.
Although I just noticed that last sentence describes Apple even more aptly, and yet they're doing pretty well, so I guess it all just comes down to marketing and faux-elitism.
Microsoft maintain the business market because their products are versatile and can run on almost any hardware. Apple provide solutions that are simple and reliable, but are very limited in terms of hardware.