the same plan.
I've been thinking that Microsoft and Apple have more or less the same plan, when you stop and think about it.
With Microsoft, I see the future in the XBox. A powerful, versatile box that snuck Microsoft into the living rooms of millions, and has expanded from a gaming platform to a communications hub, a direct link to the cloud, a place to buy content, rent movies, and interact with your social network. The XBox took what Microsoft did best, complex systems run with massive scale and compatability, and sold it initially as an entertainment product. Buying an XBox is buying into the framework Microsoft is building, and the relative ease of use that comes with having that in place, and purchasing other Microsoft products.
If this interoperability is pushed further, Microsoft will be inseparable from the entertainment practices of countless people.
With Apple, the future is clearly the iPhone. You could argue that the iPod was about getting Apple into the lives of potential users, showing them the way Apple software worked. The iPhone took that unprecedented brand loyalty, and snaked it into other aspects of your life. A shocking amount of my communication comes through my iPhone, as does a notable portion of my entertainment. It's my gaming, video, audio, telephone, email, facebook, etc etc etc. Apple dropped the 'Computer' from it's name not that long ago, which I considered a clear, telegraphing move.
The plan is more or less the same: stake out a segment of people's lives, and put the computer there. Make your product, your company, the point of contact for that location. Take the computer out of the bedroom, or basement, or living room. Take the computer out of the computer.
Microsoft is taking the living room, with the XBox, and potentially with the Surface table. Apple is taking your pocket, and your personal telecommunications.
It's the same plan. And the only question is, which one is more important in your day to day life, and your connections with others. The living room, or the cell phone?
1 comment:
No reason not to do both.
I would also point out that MS competes in the pocket through Windows Mobile (which outsells basically everything except nokia), and Apple competes in the living room through Streaming Video from iTunes Store and Apple TV. Both of these players are going to try to continue to compete in both spaces, it's just a question of leveraging where they're currently winning.
Nice to be in the part of the org that the general public likes.
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