In the past, Microsoft's business goals, and the needs and wants of their customers have aligned fairly well. This is no longer true. Microsoft's current busine

In the past, Microsoft's business goals, and the needs and wants of their customers have aligned fairly well. This is no longer true. Microsoft's current business goals are to lock customers in to their app store environment and their cloud computing infrastructure. The main goal of Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 was nothing to do with improving the experience for customers, it was about establishing and locking in customers to the Windows app store. Likewise, the main goal of Office 2013 was about migrating and locking in customers to Office 365. Microsoft included all the features they needed to fulfill their business needs. Once these programs were released though, customers saw that they didn't meet their needs and wants. Microsoft was left with no choice but to respond by (slowly and halfheartedly) giving them what they wanted. This stands in stark contrast to Apple (at least under Steve Jobs) not only putting the needs and wants of their customers first, but anticipating the needs and wants of their customers before they themselves even knew they had them.