November 2001 – Microsoft launches the xBox, taking on Sony’s PS2 & Nintendo’s GameCube.
June 2003 – Microsoft launches Windows Mobile 2003.
November 2005 – Microsoft launches the xBox 360, taking on Sony’s PS3 and the Nintendo Wii.
September 2006 – Microsoft releases Zune, their portable MP3 player to take on the #1 ranked iPod from Apple.
April 2007 – Microsoft launched Silverlight, to take on #1 placed Adobe Flash.
September 2007 – Nintendo Wii outsells xBox 360 in less than a year.
February 2008 – Microsoft makes a bid to acquire Yahoo! to take on search and online advertising giant, Google.
April 2008 – Apple’s iPhone the top mobile platform, after only 9 months of existence, accounts for .23 percent of US web traffic, beating WIndows Mobile’s meager .03 percent.
So we have:
– desktop operating system
– games
– a Flash competitor (RIAs)
– mobile OS
– online search & advertising
Microsoft – can I just ask what the hell your strategy is anyway?
What is your vision?
…before you answer that, remember that vision and going after competitors are two different things.
Google’s vision, from the beginning, is to organize all the world’s information. Obviously this touching on a hell of a lot of different industries, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’ve stayed on course with their vision, taking on competition all the while.
Microsoft, on the other hand, just takes on competition and enters new markets after they realize they’ve made a mistake. Or they’ll enter a new market but do a half-assed job at it (Can anyone tell me what happened to “the Social“?)
If you don’t have vision, you lose your way and end up taking the wrong paths.