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CNN Money: Microsoft is a Dying Consumer Brand

113 points by DavidBishop 16y ago

icegreentea 16y ago
"Microsoft's attempts to build a social network through Windows Live have failed to gain traction. It has no real answer to Facebook. " I take issue with this. Pretty much no one has a 'real' answer to Facebook. In fact, Microsoft didn't even really try. And whatever they did try, they actually gave up on. As I remember, when explaining the Facebook integration into the newest Windows Live "nobody wants another facebook". It would simply be absurd to expect MS to "fight" FB. Waste of time and money like the rest of the activities that the article seems to be criticizing.
- ErrantX 16y ago
  There is something interesting here though. I investigate computer crime and 18 months ago forensic submissions would be looking for "Windows Live/Messenger Chat". Now it is looking for "Facebook Chat". It took about 3 months for the switch to really take note, and the forensic tools took all of about a month to catch up. Facebook had some serious market penetration very very quickly with that product. So in a way; it is not so much MS failing as Facebook attempts to build a chat app succeeded.
- recoiledsnake 16y ago
  Also, was Microsoft ever a big consumer brand? Windows comes pre-installed for more people and Office and XBox are brands by themselves. They didn't try to market it as a consumer brand, except for things like keyboards, mice and headsets.
- rst 16y ago
  Microsoft's "answer" to Facebook so far looks to me like they're trying to integrate with it, wherever they can make it make sense --- the most prominent sign of which was the recent Bing "social search" announcement. (This on top of their earlier investment and advertising deal.) Unfortunately for them, it's been less of a splash than they were hoping for. Weekend before last, I heard the author of "The Facebook Effect" (good book, BTW) say that Facebook had had three major announcements in the two weeks before that: Skype integration, the new groups machinery, and some third thing he couldn't remember. The third thing he couldn't remember was Bing social search.
- philwelch 16y ago
  You could make the exact same arguments about Google, yet here's Bing, 10 years late to the party.
cryptoz 16y ago
I firmly believe that most of Microsoft's failings in the consumer market come from their fear of the World Wide Web. Microsoft does everything they can to hide their users from the real power of the web, since everyone - including Microsoft - knows that a ubiquitous Web means fewer sales of Windows and Office. Their logic in locking users to Windows-based experiences is old, tired, and not going to work anymore. People like the Web. And right now, you can't have a modern Web experience using only Microsoft products: no HTML5, slow JavaScript and a terrible, terrible browser experience. If Microsoft wants to become relevant again, they must give their users the best experience on the Web they can. Also, note that Windows Phone 7 ships with a modified IE7: what garbage is this? The phone will fail because it will suck at the Web.
- contentvoid 16y ago
  I'm more inclined to think the phone will fail for the same reasons the Zune did, too little too late. But then the media player market was much broader and more saturated in 2006 than the smartphone market is now so maybe it won't play out in the same way...
  - Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
    The worst mistake they could make is to kill it the way they killed the Zune. They're never going to launch a day one, version one product which will displace the iPhone or Android, it's going to take time and investment. The real target should be that they've got 25%+ market share in three years time. That should be what they're aiming for rather than a success this year. People replace phones every 12 - 24 months and that's rapid even in tech (most people don't replace laptops that often). Every expired contract is a new potential customer for Microsoft and that churn means that no-one can take their position for granted so it's realistic for MS to make solid inroads over time.
    - contextfree 16y ago
      They didn't kill the Zune. WP7 is basically a superset of Zune - same service for music/video, same client software, (evolution/derivative of the) same UI. There're rumored to be phoneless WP7s in the works too.
mikeymo 16y ago
I tend top agree...xbox excepted. I think Microsoft has worked very hard to get their platforms and tools into the enterprise space....and it has largely worked for them and been very successful. Has this been at the expense of a "consumer story"...maybe. With that said, they can still be a very successful and growth oriented company but in the B2B/Enterprise space.
mcknz 16y ago
CNN nails it again. Next up: Year of the Linux Desktop.
- DavidBishop 16y ago
  Actually, Apple is the one taking the consumer market. 1 in every 5 retail computer sales is a Mac. Best Buy's CEO recently said that 50% of their laptop sales have been cannibalized by the iPad - a 6 month old product. Apple is the #1 technology company on the planet by market cap and recently attained the 3rd place in computers by market share. Their stock price has grown over 2000% in 10 years. Apple is the one poised to take over in the consumer market ... although the consumer market will be less and less about computers in the future.
  - Typhon 16y ago
    OH GOD NO ! I'd rather have Microsoft's monopoly endure than have it replaced by Apple domination. Perhaps they make better software, but they're also much better at being evil.
    - DavidBishop 16y ago
      Now is that any way to talk about your soon to be computer overlords? ;) I don't agree that Apple is evil, just rigid. They are very strict about what they allow for the sake of a good user experience (and to avoid a black eye on their account). And with them being the #1 tech company on the planet, there have to be a large number of people who really like their products. Actually, in recent surveys they were - The number 1 sought after phone OS of those ready to buy smartphones (at 38% just one point above android) - The number 1 in overall customer service (86) by a fair margin (9 points) - The number 1 in smart phone satisfaction (800 vs next in line 791).
      - Typhon 16y ago
        They are strict indeed : "We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone," (Steve Jobs, quoted on the Wikipedia page about the AppStore) Even though you bought the thing (and it's not exactly cheap), you cannot put it to all the legal uses you'd like to. There is someone else deciding for you that some things do not make for "a good user experience", and, as seen in the quote above, they enforce their own moral standards about it. I find that evil. Of course, that's just my opinion, but who knows which other things they may feel they have a "moral responsibility" to keep off their platforms ?
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iterationx 16y ago
Microsoft can afford to fail many times before succeeding. It beat Lotus Notes, Borland C Compilers, Playstation, people continue to pay for Windows even though Linux is free. You don't measure what's going to happen in the future by taking a tiny slice of the present and projecting forwards.
- cryptoz 16y ago
  > people continue to pay for Windows even though Linux is free 99% of that is only because Windows is available in stores and Linux typically is not. I think this will all change in about a month when Chrome OS comes out and is preinstalled on cheap computers in stores like Best Buy, Futureshop, or wherever people buy computers these days. Most consumers no longer care that they are running a specific OS; they want to type documents, read email, watch videos, look at pictures and use Wikipedia. And Chrome OS will satisfy that perfectly. If stores decide to stock Chrome OS devices, I bet you'll see a huge rise in consumer "desktop Linux" usage.
  - iterationx 16y ago
    I can appreciate your optimism but I don't think that's how its going to play out. I think you are so technical that you have lost touch with the everyman user.
  - rubinelli 16y ago
    In my experience, the first thing consumers ask once they turn on the computer is "Where's Word?" I think how well Chrome OS machines answer this question will make or break them.
    - cryptoz 16y ago
      Chrome OS defaults to opening Office files with Office Live, whch is a pretty good answer I think.
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cwbrandsma 16y ago
Since Bill Gates left his posts, Microsoft is being run by bean counters and has no real tech leader to lean on; not one with enough power to tell the bean counters -Balmer- to back off -- that was Bill Gates, and he was good at it. As long as that continues, there will be issues.
parenthesis 16y ago
I get the impression that Microsoft themselves are downplaying the `Microsoft' brand, in favour of market/product-specific brands: Windows, Office, Bing, XBox, etc.
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AmericanOP 16y ago
The author of the Gervais Principle blog posts did a nice job of comparing Apple's marketing culture (we have the best stuff, come get it) against Microsoft's sales culture (personalized, i.e. Windows 7 was my idea). Thinking about it though, Microsoft has completely failed to connect with any customer persona despite their baffling product segmentation, other than personal vs professional which Apple is soon copying. Okay Microsoft, Windows 7 contains an everyman's idea, I'm genuinely interested, what is it? Not going to say? Vapid and inauthentic. Okay Microsoft, you're going to hack my attention with puppies and irrestibably cute things? Great PR stunt, but you failed to make any kind of impression about the quality of your goods. Now we get these ridiculous Windows Mobile 7 commercials.. once again, trying to sell to you at an individual level by appealing to your phone addiction problem. Decreased ease of use is a benefit? Well, I want the phone designed by someone who wants to use a well designed phone, not by someone who has to have a differentiated design for marketing reasons. Sell me that.
scrrr 16y ago
Was Microsoft ever such a big brand? Google is, Apple is, Dell is, but with Microsoft it is more like many Brands: Windows, XBox, Zune.. I think the main things that people immediately associate with the actual word "Microsoft" might be mice and keyboards. But, (at least in my perception) they are slowly beginning to address the problem of decreasing user numbers. See their marketing at "Colbert Report" and, recently, the How I Met Your Mother episode "Subway Wars", that was full of Bing and Windows product placement. Again, not promoting the Brand "Microsoft" directly, but rather its products. The shiny logo stands for Windows, while in Apple's case the logo refers to a whole company.
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  As of October 2009, Microsoft Windows had a desktop market share of 91% (and that figure is probably still about 88% today). Office makes that look a little weak with a market share of about 95%. You are kidding that people think of them as a mouse and keyboard company aren't you? Dell, one of your listed brands, by contrast have a market share of about 11.5%.
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  - mfukar 16y ago
    I think a better way to put it is this: When you hear "XPS" your mind doesn't immediately go to the Dell laptop (probably). When you hear "Microsoft" though, "Windows", "Office", "Xbox", all the jazz, immediately go through your head.
- trustfundbaby 16y ago
  > Was Microsoft ever such a big brand? umm ... yeah. they kinda were a big deal. There was a time where PC's used to be called 'Wintel' (Windows/Intel) machines because pretty much every PC made had Windows on it. > I think the main things that people immediately associate with the actual word "Microsoft" might be mice and keyboards. Wishful thinking ... although I think eventually this will happen. Between Microsoft Windows/Office/Exchange/Bing/Exchange/.NET/SQL Server ... Microsoft is still a big brand ... they're just a big brand going down the toilet.
brudgers 16y ago
Saying "Microsoft is a Dying Consumer Brand" is somewhat analogous to saying "Mitsubishi is a Dying Consumer Brand." Though the structures are different, consumer products are only a part of their portfolio. Both have successful industrial lines, and both have flagship consumer lines that often draw flack. Importantly, both own highly successful consumer brands e.g Xbox and Nikon, respectively. What the article misses is that Microsoft has an asset that it's competitors often don't: trust. Because of their B2B orientation, being trustworthy is a necessary strategy...that's not to say they don't make mistakes, but by and large they support they support their customers well beyond the typical three year upgrade cycle companies such as Apple enforce. Companies like Google and Facebook change their products in ways that are in conflict with the user's interests even more regularly.
- DavidBishop 16y ago
  You are correct in that it's not all of Microsoft that is dying, but Microsoft is losing in many markets. It's dropped below 5% in the global smartphone market, and many leading companies have shied away from Windows 7 on tablets. The mobile market is what's booming and Microsoft has no dog in the hunt. Compare the stock price increases over 10 years of the leaders in mobile to Microsoft: - Apple up 2000% - Google up almost 400% (6 years: they went public late 2004) - Microsoft down almost 20%. Yes, Microsoft owns the business market and will for the foreseeable future, although other companies, such as Apple, are making inroads, growing 57% this year (this only equates to a total 3-odd% but it is still an impact - Remember when Firefox was only 2%?) I agree with you that to say "Microsoft is dying overall" is overplaying it, but to not see that Microsoft is missing it in many other arenas that may eventually impact their business line is equally incorrect.
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- hughw 16y ago
  Right. The article was about consumer products but you've identified the major differentiator between MS and the others. MS never gets developer buy-in and then hangs you out to dry. You can still build and support OLE controls TWO DECADES later. You can invest development time in MS and they won't deprecate Java (voluntarily) or Wave on you.
dstein 16y ago
I hope Microsoft keeps doing exactly what they're doing. Microsoft's bad reputation is very much deserved. The web, and the world, is going to be a lot better off without this company. Windows, MS Office, and Internet Explorer are examples of what happens when Microsoft wins markets. They let their products languish, make no improvements whatsoever in decade, while repainting the exterior and reselling it over and over again. Consumers have wised up, businesses are just slower to recognize when they're getting the raw end of a deal.
timwiseman 16y ago
This article is overblown at best. Microsoft's core operating system and office suites remain absolutely dominant even if competitors are rising. While Nintendo Wii certainly moves more units than the xbox, the xbox remains a successful competitive system with interesting innovations that largely focused on a different segment than the Wii did. While Microsoft is way behind in the phone segment, it is a bit premature to declare Windows Phone 7 a failure in the consumer market. What this is showing is not so much that Microsoft is dying but that because other competitors are rising it is no longer the absolutely dominating force it used to be. This in itself is significant, but a far cry from dying.
- naner 16y ago
  This article is overblown at best. Microsoft's core operating system and office suites remain absolutely dominant even if competitors are rising. Yes but are these business licenses or consumer sales? Go to any college campus and see how many Windows laptops you see students using. Microsoft sales are going to businesses (who are entrenched in MS solutions) and people who "have always used Windows" (i.e. older folks who don't want to change). Their brand is tarnished. I don't see them recovering from this easily.
  - MortenK 16y ago
    Its both business and consumer sales. Around 90% of the market share. The large amounts of apple machines in colleges is probably more an indication of students wanting to be fashionably correct, than it is microsofts brand being tarnished in the general population.
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johnohara 16y ago
As one of the largest software developers on the planet, MS has access to more cool stuff than anyone can imagine. With all that cash, I'm sure it comes across they're radar all the time -- and they do make purchases and investments. The problem is the minute they implement new technology it gets some committee-driven marketing name that's so completely disconnected from what it does that it takes million$ to explain what should be obvious from the name. Examples: IIS, COM, COM+, Visual Studio, .Net, BizTalk, SharePoint, MultiPoint, Windows Live, SilverLight, Zune, Bing, and now the latest -- Windows Phone 7 (dyslexic a fully name).
- MortenK 16y ago
  IIS: internet information Services. It IS services for internet information. COM: component object model. It IS an object model for components. Sharepoint: a shared point for sharing information. BizTalk: communication between enterprise (buisness) software. Doesn't seem like disconnected marketing names to me. Zune, Bing, Silverlight, yeah point taken. Still not much more disconnected than "iPod", "yahoo" or "flash".
- simonsquiff 16y ago
  Their old names were great. Word, Office, Windows, Outlook - all great names.
richcollins 16y ago
The article inadvertently hints at the reason why Microsoft is failing. It mentions all of the markets where they lost to competitors. Perhaps they lost in all of these markets because they didn't focus on dominating a single market like the competitors that they lost to did. Apple: Mobile Devices Nintendo: Platform Gaming Facebook: Social Networking Google: Search ...
kmfrk 16y ago
The place where I start to get leery is when Microsoft take a product like Live Messenger, which had finally become a near-perfect product, and bloat it into a dreadful "social media" whizbang media applet interface aeroplane control panel. I later found out (after copious reinstallations and attempts at finding an earlier version at oldversions.com) that there's a tiny icon, of which the chance to find is several orders of magnitude smaller than that of the Higgs boson - that restores the bloated piece of crap to a an actual IM-only client. Of course, Microsoft also made the effort of cramming in more awful toolbars (that can't be removed) and replacing all the emoticons with a new suite of something even worse than what you would expect to find in a ten-year-old version of ICQ. This may sound silly, but all chat clients on- and offline have dreadful emoticons; emoticons are meant to disambiguate and diffuse in favour of the sender and represent their mood and tone. That is their purpose. It really makes interaction with friends and acquaintances much easier and joyous. There's a limit to how you can stand out from other IM clients, and this is perhaps the biggest yard stick. Live Messenger had the best (the only good) set of emoticons, and now Windows have thrown it all away while bloating the client even more. I am fine with them throwing billions at something that may or may not work, but why the hell are they destroying their biggest brand products in this futile attempt to becoming relevant and cool? I shudder at the thought at what Windows 8 will be like. Will they implement Clippy in the terminal to compete with Mac OS?
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sdizdar 16y ago
MS has some of the best engineering team in the world. But MS does not have leadership with courage. That is the problem.
known 16y ago
Why IBM, Cisco, Intel are not rolling out smart phones?
- oiuhjygtfghjnmk 16y ago
  Same reason they aren't building cars or aeroplanes.
  - known 16y ago
    Why IBM, Cisco, Intel are not building smart phones AND cars or aeroplanes?
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bobf 16y ago
I would actually argue that Microsoft has actually become a more consumer-oriented company over time. Xbox was only released 9 years ago and the Zune was only released 4 years ago. Prior to that, what was Microsoft's consumer focus? Their primary products, Windows and Office, have traditionally focused on selling to businesses (OEMs, VARs, etc). The majority of consumers do not go out and purchase Windows directly -- it is included on their computer.
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113 points by DavidBishop 16y ago

"Microsoft's attempts to build a social network through Windows Live have failed to gain traction. It has no real answer to Facebook. " I take issue with this. Pretty much no one has a 'real' answer to Facebook. In fact, Microsoft didn't even really try. And whatever they did try, they actually gave up on. As I remember, when explaining the Facebook integration into the newest Windows Live "nobody wants another facebook". It would simply be absurd to expect MS to "fight" FB. Waste of time and money like the rest of the activities that the article seems to be criticizing.

ErrantX 16y ago
There is something interesting here though. I investigate computer crime and 18 months ago forensic submissions would be looking for "Windows Live/Messenger Chat". Now it is looking for "Facebook Chat". It took about 3 months for the switch to really take note, and the forensic tools took all of about a month to catch up. Facebook had some serious market penetration very very quickly with that product. So in a way; it is not so much MS failing as Facebook attempts to build a chat app succeeded.
recoiledsnake 16y ago
Also, was Microsoft ever a big consumer brand? Windows comes pre-installed for more people and Office and XBox are brands by themselves. They didn't try to market it as a consumer brand, except for things like keyboards, mice and headsets.
rst 16y ago
Microsoft's "answer" to Facebook so far looks to me like they're trying to integrate with it, wherever they can make it make sense --- the most prominent sign of which was the recent Bing "social search" announcement. (This on top of their earlier investment and advertising deal.) Unfortunately for them, it's been less of a splash than they were hoping for. Weekend before last, I heard the author of "The Facebook Effect" (good book, BTW) say that Facebook had had three major announcements in the two weeks before that: Skype integration, the new groups machinery, and some third thing he couldn't remember. The third thing he couldn't remember was Bing social search.
philwelch 16y ago
You could make the exact same arguments about Google, yet here's Bing, 10 years late to the party.

cryptoz 16y ago

I firmly believe that most of Microsoft's failings in the consumer market come from their fear of the World Wide Web. Microsoft does everything they can to hide their users from the real power of the web, since everyone - including Microsoft - knows that a ubiquitous Web means fewer sales of Windows and Office. Their logic in locking users to Windows-based experiences is old, tired, and not going to work anymore. People like the Web. And right now, you can't have a modern Web experience using only Microsoft products: no HTML5, slow JavaScript and a terrible, terrible browser experience. If Microsoft wants to become relevant again, they must give their users the best experience on the Web they can. Also, note that Windows Phone 7 ships with a modified IE7: what garbage is this? The phone will fail because it will suck at the Web.

contentvoid 16y ago
I'm more inclined to think the phone will fail for the same reasons the Zune did, too little too late. But then the media player market was much broader and more saturated in 2006 than the smartphone market is now so maybe it won't play out in the same way...
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  The worst mistake they could make is to kill it the way they killed the Zune. They're never going to launch a day one, version one product which will displace the iPhone or Android, it's going to take time and investment. The real target should be that they've got 25%+ market share in three years time. That should be what they're aiming for rather than a success this year. People replace phones every 12 - 24 months and that's rapid even in tech (most people don't replace laptops that often). Every expired contract is a new potential customer for Microsoft and that churn means that no-one can take their position for granted so it's realistic for MS to make solid inroads over time.
  - contextfree 16y ago
    They didn't kill the Zune. WP7 is basically a superset of Zune - same service for music/video, same client software, (evolution/derivative of the) same UI. There're rumored to be phoneless WP7s in the works too.

mikeymo 16y ago

I tend top agree...xbox excepted. I think Microsoft has worked very hard to get their platforms and tools into the enterprise space....and it has largely worked for them and been very successful. Has this been at the expense of a "consumer story"...maybe. With that said, they can still be a very successful and growth oriented company but in the B2B/Enterprise space.

mcknz 16y ago

CNN nails it again. Next up: Year of the Linux Desktop.

DavidBishop 16y ago
Actually, Apple is the one taking the consumer market. 1 in every 5 retail computer sales is a Mac. Best Buy's CEO recently said that 50% of their laptop sales have been cannibalized by the iPad - a 6 month old product. Apple is the #1 technology company on the planet by market cap and recently attained the 3rd place in computers by market share. Their stock price has grown over 2000% in 10 years. Apple is the one poised to take over in the consumer market ... although the consumer market will be less and less about computers in the future.
- Typhon 16y ago
  OH GOD NO ! I'd rather have Microsoft's monopoly endure than have it replaced by Apple domination. Perhaps they make better software, but they're also much better at being evil.
  - DavidBishop 16y ago
    Now is that any way to talk about your soon to be computer overlords? ;) I don't agree that Apple is evil, just rigid. They are very strict about what they allow for the sake of a good user experience (and to avoid a black eye on their account). And with them being the #1 tech company on the planet, there have to be a large number of people who really like their products. Actually, in recent surveys they were - The number 1 sought after phone OS of those ready to buy smartphones (at 38% just one point above android) - The number 1 in overall customer service (86) by a fair margin (9 points) - The number 1 in smart phone satisfaction (800 vs next in line 791).
    - Typhon 16y ago
      They are strict indeed : "We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone," (Steve Jobs, quoted on the Wikipedia page about the AppStore) Even though you bought the thing (and it's not exactly cheap), you cannot put it to all the legal uses you'd like to. There is someone else deciding for you that some things do not make for "a good user experience", and, as seen in the quote above, they enforce their own moral standards about it. I find that evil. Of course, that's just my opinion, but who knows which other things they may feel they have a "moral responsibility" to keep off their platforms ?

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iterationx 16y ago

Microsoft can afford to fail many times before succeeding. It beat Lotus Notes, Borland C Compilers, Playstation, people continue to pay for Windows even though Linux is free. You don't measure what's going to happen in the future by taking a tiny slice of the present and projecting forwards.

cryptoz 16y ago
> people continue to pay for Windows even though Linux is free 99% of that is only because Windows is available in stores and Linux typically is not. I think this will all change in about a month when Chrome OS comes out and is preinstalled on cheap computers in stores like Best Buy, Futureshop, or wherever people buy computers these days. Most consumers no longer care that they are running a specific OS; they want to type documents, read email, watch videos, look at pictures and use Wikipedia. And Chrome OS will satisfy that perfectly. If stores decide to stock Chrome OS devices, I bet you'll see a huge rise in consumer "desktop Linux" usage.
- iterationx 16y ago
  I can appreciate your optimism but I don't think that's how its going to play out. I think you are so technical that you have lost touch with the everyman user.
- rubinelli 16y ago
  In my experience, the first thing consumers ask once they turn on the computer is "Where's Word?" I think how well Chrome OS machines answer this question will make or break them.
  - cryptoz 16y ago
    Chrome OS defaults to opening Office files with Office Live, whch is a pretty good answer I think.
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cwbrandsma 16y ago

Since Bill Gates left his posts, Microsoft is being run by bean counters and has no real tech leader to lean on; not one with enough power to tell the bean counters -Balmer- to back off -- that was Bill Gates, and he was good at it. As long as that continues, there will be issues.

parenthesis 16y ago

I get the impression that Microsoft themselves are downplaying the `Microsoft' brand, in favour of market/product-specific brands: Windows, Office, Bing, XBox, etc.

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AmericanOP 16y ago

The author of the Gervais Principle blog posts did a nice job of comparing Apple's marketing culture (we have the best stuff, come get it) against Microsoft's sales culture (personalized, i.e. Windows 7 was my idea). Thinking about it though, Microsoft has completely failed to connect with any customer persona despite their baffling product segmentation, other than personal vs professional which Apple is soon copying. Okay Microsoft, Windows 7 contains an everyman's idea, I'm genuinely interested, what is it? Not going to say? Vapid and inauthentic. Okay Microsoft, you're going to hack my attention with puppies and irrestibably cute things? Great PR stunt, but you failed to make any kind of impression about the quality of your goods. Now we get these ridiculous Windows Mobile 7 commercials.. once again, trying to sell to you at an individual level by appealing to your phone addiction problem. Decreased ease of use is a benefit? Well, I want the phone designed by someone who wants to use a well designed phone, not by someone who has to have a differentiated design for marketing reasons. Sell me that.

scrrr 16y ago

Was Microsoft ever such a big brand? Google is, Apple is, Dell is, but with Microsoft it is more like many Brands: Windows, XBox, Zune.. I think the main things that people immediately associate with the actual word "Microsoft" might be mice and keyboards. But, (at least in my perception) they are slowly beginning to address the problem of decreasing user numbers. See their marketing at "Colbert Report" and, recently, the How I Met Your Mother episode "Subway Wars", that was full of Bing and Windows product placement. Again, not promoting the Brand "Microsoft" directly, but rather its products. The shiny logo stands for Windows, while in Apple's case the logo refers to a whole company.

Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
As of October 2009, Microsoft Windows had a desktop market share of 91% (and that figure is probably still about 88% today). Office makes that look a little weak with a market share of about 95%. You are kidding that people think of them as a mouse and keyboard company aren't you? Dell, one of your listed brands, by contrast have a market share of about 11.5%.
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- mfukar 16y ago
  I think a better way to put it is this: When you hear "XPS" your mind doesn't immediately go to the Dell laptop (probably). When you hear "Microsoft" though, "Windows", "Office", "Xbox", all the jazz, immediately go through your head.
trustfundbaby 16y ago
> Was Microsoft ever such a big brand? umm ... yeah. they kinda were a big deal. There was a time where PC's used to be called 'Wintel' (Windows/Intel) machines because pretty much every PC made had Windows on it. > I think the main things that people immediately associate with the actual word "Microsoft" might be mice and keyboards. Wishful thinking ... although I think eventually this will happen. Between Microsoft Windows/Office/Exchange/Bing/Exchange/.NET/SQL Server ... Microsoft is still a big brand ... they're just a big brand going down the toilet.

brudgers 16y ago

Saying "Microsoft is a Dying Consumer Brand" is somewhat analogous to saying "Mitsubishi is a Dying Consumer Brand." Though the structures are different, consumer products are only a part of their portfolio. Both have successful industrial lines, and both have flagship consumer lines that often draw flack. Importantly, both own highly successful consumer brands e.g Xbox and Nikon, respectively. What the article misses is that Microsoft has an asset that it's competitors often don't: trust. Because of their B2B orientation, being trustworthy is a necessary strategy...that's not to say they don't make mistakes, but by and large they support they support their customers well beyond the typical three year upgrade cycle companies such as Apple enforce. Companies like Google and Facebook change their products in ways that are in conflict with the user's interests even more regularly.

DavidBishop 16y ago
You are correct in that it's not all of Microsoft that is dying, but Microsoft is losing in many markets. It's dropped below 5% in the global smartphone market, and many leading companies have shied away from Windows 7 on tablets. The mobile market is what's booming and Microsoft has no dog in the hunt. Compare the stock price increases over 10 years of the leaders in mobile to Microsoft: - Apple up 2000% - Google up almost 400% (6 years: they went public late 2004) - Microsoft down almost 20%. Yes, Microsoft owns the business market and will for the foreseeable future, although other companies, such as Apple, are making inroads, growing 57% this year (this only equates to a total 3-odd% but it is still an impact - Remember when Firefox was only 2%?) I agree with you that to say "Microsoft is dying overall" is overplaying it, but to not see that Microsoft is missing it in many other arenas that may eventually impact their business line is equally incorrect.
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hughw 16y ago
Right. The article was about consumer products but you've identified the major differentiator between MS and the others. MS never gets developer buy-in and then hangs you out to dry. You can still build and support OLE controls TWO DECADES later. You can invest development time in MS and they won't deprecate Java (voluntarily) or Wave on you.

dstein 16y ago

I hope Microsoft keeps doing exactly what they're doing. Microsoft's bad reputation is very much deserved. The web, and the world, is going to be a lot better off without this company. Windows, MS Office, and Internet Explorer are examples of what happens when Microsoft wins markets. They let their products languish, make no improvements whatsoever in decade, while repainting the exterior and reselling it over and over again. Consumers have wised up, businesses are just slower to recognize when they're getting the raw end of a deal.

timwiseman 16y ago

This article is overblown at best. Microsoft's core operating system and office suites remain absolutely dominant even if competitors are rising. While Nintendo Wii certainly moves more units than the xbox, the xbox remains a successful competitive system with interesting innovations that largely focused on a different segment than the Wii did. While Microsoft is way behind in the phone segment, it is a bit premature to declare Windows Phone 7 a failure in the consumer market. What this is showing is not so much that Microsoft is dying but that because other competitors are rising it is no longer the absolutely dominating force it used to be. This in itself is significant, but a far cry from dying.

naner 16y ago
This article is overblown at best. Microsoft's core operating system and office suites remain absolutely dominant even if competitors are rising. Yes but are these business licenses or consumer sales? Go to any college campus and see how many Windows laptops you see students using. Microsoft sales are going to businesses (who are entrenched in MS solutions) and people who "have always used Windows" (i.e. older folks who don't want to change). Their brand is tarnished. I don't see them recovering from this easily.
- MortenK 16y ago
  Its both business and consumer sales. Around 90% of the market share. The large amounts of apple machines in colleges is probably more an indication of students wanting to be fashionably correct, than it is microsofts brand being tarnished in the general population.

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johnohara 16y ago

As one of the largest software developers on the planet, MS has access to more cool stuff than anyone can imagine. With all that cash, I'm sure it comes across they're radar all the time -- and they do make purchases and investments. The problem is the minute they implement new technology it gets some committee-driven marketing name that's so completely disconnected from what it does that it takes million$ to explain what should be obvious from the name. Examples: IIS, COM, COM+, Visual Studio, .Net, BizTalk, SharePoint, MultiPoint, Windows Live, SilverLight, Zune, Bing, and now the latest -- Windows Phone 7 (dyslexic a fully name).

MortenK 16y ago
IIS: internet information Services. It IS services for internet information. COM: component object model. It IS an object model for components. Sharepoint: a shared point for sharing information. BizTalk: communication between enterprise (buisness) software. Doesn't seem like disconnected marketing names to me. Zune, Bing, Silverlight, yeah point taken. Still not much more disconnected than "iPod", "yahoo" or "flash".
simonsquiff 16y ago
Their old names were great. Word, Office, Windows, Outlook - all great names.

richcollins 16y ago

The article inadvertently hints at the reason why Microsoft is failing. It mentions all of the markets where they lost to competitors. Perhaps they lost in all of these markets because they didn't focus on dominating a single market like the competitors that they lost to did. Apple: Mobile Devices Nintendo: Platform Gaming Facebook: Social Networking Google: Search ...

kmfrk 16y ago

The place where I start to get leery is when Microsoft take a product like Live Messenger, which had finally become a near-perfect product, and bloat it into a dreadful "social media" whizbang media applet interface aeroplane control panel. I later found out (after copious reinstallations and attempts at finding an earlier version at oldversions.com) that there's a tiny icon, of which the chance to find is several orders of magnitude smaller than that of the Higgs boson - that restores the bloated piece of crap to a an actual IM-only client. Of course, Microsoft also made the effort of cramming in more awful toolbars (that can't be removed) and replacing all the emoticons with a new suite of something even worse than what you would expect to find in a ten-year-old version of ICQ. This may sound silly, but all chat clients on- and offline have dreadful emoticons; emoticons are meant to disambiguate and diffuse in favour of the sender and represent their mood and tone. That is their purpose. It really makes interaction with friends and acquaintances much easier and joyous. There's a limit to how you can stand out from other IM clients, and this is perhaps the biggest yard stick. Live Messenger had the best (the only good) set of emoticons, and now Windows have thrown it all away while bloating the client even more. I am fine with them throwing billions at something that may or may not work, but why the hell are they destroying their biggest brand products in this futile attempt to becoming relevant and cool? I shudder at the thought at what Windows 8 will be like. Will they implement Clippy in the terminal to compete with Mac OS?

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sdizdar 16y ago

MS has some of the best engineering team in the world. But MS does not have leadership with courage. That is the problem.

known 16y ago

Why IBM, Cisco, Intel are not rolling out smart phones?

oiuhjygtfghjnmk 16y ago
Same reason they aren't building cars or aeroplanes.
- known 16y ago
  Why IBM, Cisco, Intel are not building smart phones AND cars or aeroplanes?

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bobf 16y ago

I would actually argue that Microsoft has actually become a more consumer-oriented company over time. Xbox was only released 9 years ago and the Zune was only released 4 years ago. Prior to that, what was Microsoft's consumer focus? Their primary products, Windows and Office, have traditionally focused on selling to businesses (OEMs, VARs, etc). The majority of consumers do not go out and purchase Windows directly -- it is included on their computer.

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