There are a lot of haters and just plain negative feelings towards Microsoft these days. Their stock just sits in the mid-20s while Apple and Google explore the 300-500 range while making the same amount of revenue as Microsoft. People just generally have a bad taste or a boring aura around the brand. Well, I think it is time for people to be optimistic about what Microsoft is about to do in the consumer market, and here is why.
There are only a few companies with serious ecosystems that include media content, cloud capability, mobile operation, TV connection, and PC software. I would like to explore each of these, and setup what I think to be the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to capitalize on.
Let's start with our connection to our televisions. Google has recently fallen flat with Google TV, and Logitech has been forced to start at a $299 price point and then readjust to $99, because it just is not catching on. Apple has the Appletv, but like Google they cannot get all the content they want, and when you do find the content you better fork over money for it. Add to that the fact you have to buy a box in addition to the 3 or 4 other items already hooked up to your TV. This is where gaming comes in.
In the gaming field Microsoft is dominating right now with the XBox 360. It took them 6 years to turn a profit, but they are the top gaming system selling right now and are planning to unveil the next gen system sometime next year. Why is this important? Well, Unlike Apple and Google they can leverage XBox to link your TV and home network through their system. Apple and Google are trying to leverage their boxes to play games, but let's be serious Angry Birds and Papertoss just don't translate to a 50" screen as well as playing a made for the big screen game like Halo. Unless Apple or Google makes a big deal with Sony or Nintendo, Microsoft has a way to your TV with hardware you probably already own. Once you get to the TV a company just needs to give you access to media and they own you, monetarily at least.
Media is very important to every consumer and every company offers a way to get your content in multiple places so I won't get too in depth about this. You just need to choose who you want to buy from, whether it be Microsoft with their Zune software, Apple with iTunes, or Google with their anybody can sell anything on our platform. Seriously, I am so confused about what Google is trying to do here my head starts feeling like spaghetti junction in Atlanta during rush hour. Amazon, Sony, Samsung, and Google themselves are just some of the suppliers of media in the Android and PC markets. Thank you Google for being open source, but it really hurts your platform.
Now once you buy this media it is important to share it, which is where cloud storage can be incredibly useful. Google is killing competition with services like Google music that let's you upload your whole library and download it at will from any PC or mobile device. Microsoft has created their Skydrive service which puts not only music, but documents in the same place; this is unlike Google who decided to separate Google Docs into it's own realm. Only problem with Skydrive is that it is limited to 25GB, so movies are out of the question. you will need to use Netflix on Xbox360 or use your Zune client on your PC. Now for Apple, who wants to capitalize on a service everyone else offers for free. Sure they give you 5GB, that is about 2 HD movies or maybe a 1,000 or so songs. If you want to up that storage space get ready to fork over $20/10GB, $40/20GB, or $100/50GB a year. Oh, and here is the kicker some media types will only store if you purchase through Apple in your iTunes account. WHAT A DEAL HUH!
OK, so here we have the perfect storm for one of these companies to give us the whole package. My vote will be with Microsoft, and I'm hoping a lot of people will see it my way. The folks in Washington are working very hard at creating a UI across what they call the "3 screens"; by this we mean TV(large screen), PC (medium screen), and mobile device (small screen). This UI is currently called Metro and can be proudly shown off on any Windows Phone device just see below.
Will this be liked by all consumers, of course not. But it is a unique and different experience than anyone has felt on a phone before. In the short time that Windows Phone 7 has been on the market the reviews have been great, but sales have been minor at best. But this is only the beginning. Just last week Microsoft introduced a trimmed down version of this UI on the XBox and below I have added what is to be the PC version so take a gander. | |
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When first seeing this I freaked out (the PC is about to die), but this will make a great UI to fit tablets like no other OS. This similar feel between the 3 screens will make it easier for Microsoft to share content between devices and for consumers to be able to consume that content. Microsoft is also doing whatever they can to add a top notch social experience. While Google Voice and Facetime are populating their respective markets for Google and Apple, Microsoft went and bought the biggest video conferencing network known as Skype. This new Skype acquistion has already been linked with Facebook and will be integrated heavily into all Microsoft products soon. Add Linked In, Twitter, and MSN Messenger and Microsoft is brewing to make one mean platform. Now your XBox and PC can take advantage of these mergers, but soon their phones will too.
So Microsoft has done their homework and spent heavy dollars to give every consumer a nice playground between all their devices. Whether it be video conferencing, texting, E-mail, Zune media, XBox gaming, or just wanting something new without having to go in/out of icons all day Microsoft has created the experience. It is up to us to use it.
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