John Dvorak, a famous tech writer looks at Microsoft’s failed strategies and I thought of connecting it with Apple 2.0 Blog
Then, in the meat of his argument, he ticks off 10 of these “bright and shiny objects.” he quotes:
* Years ago in the pre-Internet era, AOL was the talk of the town, so Microsoft had to copy it with MSN. No money was made; no strategic advantage was gained.
* Netscape was the rage for a while, so Microsoft threw together a browser and got in that business. The browser was given away for free. No money was made; the strategy got the company in trouble with government trustbusters.
* During the early days of the Internet, new online publications appeared. Microsoft decided to become a publisher too, rolling out a slew of online properties including a computer magazine and a women’s magazine. They were all folded.
* Computer books became popular; Microsoft began Microsoft Press. After an early splash and success, the company soon lost interest and the division now languishes.
* Teddy Ruxpin became a hot toy. Microsoft rolled out a couple of robotic plush toys, including the creepy Barney the Dinosaur who sang “I love you and you love me.” The company soon lost interest and dropped the whole thing.
* AOL-TV appeared, along with other device-centric TV-delivery mechanisms in the 1990s. Microsoft created a Microsoft-TV division as well as a device. It soon lost interest.
* Adobe Photoshop became a huge success, so Microsoft hired Alvy Ray Smith to develop photo-editing software. Smith quit when the company lost interest in the idea.
* Yahoo and Google showed that a search engine could be a money maker, so Microsoft copied that idea; it now has Bing.
* Cloud applications are currently trendy, along with notions about software as a service. Microsoft decides to go into that business.
* The Apple rolled out a MP3 player, the iPod. Microsoft came up with its own MP3 player, the Zune. The company also says it wants to stream music.
“This is a company that began making development tools for programmers,” he concludes. “Does anyone see a pattern here?” A billion dollar Question!!
Innovation as Competitive Advantage 