Every summer is always the time for tech giants to release the latest strategic direction to developers and the world, and the Microsoft Build developer conference just ended, and Apple WWDC again. From the Microsoft Build Conference seems to reveal that Microsoft's product line and Apple are increasingly similar. Although two have been well-known in the tech circle, enemies's "Mac vs. PC" Advertising has attracted the world's attention.
But in recent years, like the old rival Apple, Microsoft has launched its own phones and tablets, as well as a strategy to allow users to upgrade Windows 10 for free, while opening up a large number of retail stores. But the Verge, the US technology blogger, argues that the Nadra of Microsoft and cook at the helm of the "fence" or "fence" is a completely different development strategy.
Similar products, different strategies
In the past few years, Microsoft and Apple seem to be the same. At present, Microsoft has its own hardware business, including Lumia phones and surface tablet products. Microsoft also recently announced that it will provide free Windows 10 operating system upgrades. In addition, Microsoft has set up a large-scale retail network. In fact, Microsoft's first flagship store is close to Apple's iconic Fifth Avenue store. However, this is only superficial. If you delve into these two companies, you will find that Apple and Microsoft are based on two radically different strategies.
For Apple, the future of personal computers lies in further personalization. This is the basic idea behind Apple Watch smart watches: A closer connection between smart devices and users. And that's not the way Microsoft is thinking. For the future, Microsoft wants to provide a more personalized experience, not a device. These two strategies differ greatly, but they are not incompatible. In fact, it is precisely because Apple and Microsoft are pursuing radically different goals that two companies can collaborate in an unprecedented way.
In the past 30 years, Apple and Microsoft have often faced direct competition. Whether your surface tablet is challenging the ipod with a ipad,zune player or a classic PC-to-Mac conversation, these two American tech giants will always aim for the same user base and try to meet the same needs.
Now, however, things are changing quietly. Microsoft has in fact acknowledged the dominance of iOS and Android in the mobile operating system market, so we are more likely to see how Apple and Microsoft are TCRA to attract users on the same device.
The Microsoft Build developer conference in 2015 showed a typical collaboration case: On the ipad, Microsoft showcased the Uber plugin for Outlook apps. With this plugin, users can make an appointment to call the car directly in Outlook's calendar.
Fence: Build or break?
Microsoft is doing everything possible to break the barriers between different mobile devices and platforms. At last week's build conference, Microsoft showed how to port Android and iOS apps to the Windows platform. Under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadra (Satya Nadella), Microsoft has developed a hardware strategy different from the "Ballmer era", which is to focus more on cheap equipment than on high-end flagship products. In recent days, for example, Microsoft has launched the Lumia 430, which sells more than 500 yuan in India. Microsoft's goal is to promote the popularity of the company's applications so that applications can be installed to as many devices as possible.
Apple's strategy differs greatly from Microsoft's. Users can now use Mac computers to make calls and send and receive text messages, but only if they have to have an iphone. If you use an Android phone or a Windows system, you won't be able to enjoy this convenience. Apple's services can be easily synchronized between their own devices, but so far they have not been well supported by external devices.
When Apple launches new software and new services, these software and services often do not go to other platforms. As a result, Apple's ecosystem has gradually become a "closed garden". With the integration of hardware, software and services, and the value to users, Apple has the ability to maintain such closed gardens. Microsoft, under the leadership of Nadra, is trying to reverse the situation, in the way of cloud computing and mobile applications.
Business center of gravity Difference
Despite the availability of hardware, software and services, Apple is still a hardware company, at least from a financial point of view. All of Apple's work has been done to promote the sale of iphones, ipads and Mac computers. In the second quarter ending March, Apple's revenue was $58.01 billion. The vast majority of hardware: $40.282 billion in revenue from the iphone, $5.428 billion from the ipad, and $5.615 billion in revenue from Mac. By contrast, Apple's service revenue for the quarter was just $4.996 billion.
Despite the same sales of phones and tablets, Microsoft's revenue composition is completely different from Apple's. Microsoft's surface revenue was $713 million in the third quarter, as well as the end of March, with $1.4 billion in handset hardware revenue. Hardware sales accounted for only a small portion of the total revenue of $21.729 billion. In fact, Microsoft now attaches more importance to cloud computing and mobile applications. On the earnings call, Nadra repeatedly talked about the progress of cloud computing services such as Azure and Office 365, and how these cloud services are driving Microsoft's transformation.
Apple is continuing to push hardware sales, while Microsoft's focus is on maximizing the number of users in cloud computing services and mobile apps. For Microsoft, providing free Android and iOS office apps is a key decision. This helped the Windows platform's rivals, and it also meant that Microsoft had dropped a large chunk of its revenue stream. However, Microsoft has already considered this. In the long run, Microsoft wants to drive the further popularity of office. Microsoft wants to develop office as a platform and provide popular apps such as Uber on this platform.
Microsoft's "alternative" platform
Facebook is also using Messenger platform to pursue the same goals. Both Microsoft and Facebook want to create a new layer between devices and users, providing a unique value for service and experience. Such a model is not without precedent. Japan's line and China have proved that such platforms have great potential after integrating messages, games, mobile payments, and even taxi services. Apple did not do so because the company was trying to make all of these activities and transactions happen directly on the system-level platforms of the iphone, ipad and Mac.
Recently, the term "platform" has been used on many occasions, so its meaning is becoming increasingly blurred. However, there is a relatively straightforward definition of the platform. In the tech Circle, the platform represents the space you have, and the space has some appeal, so that others will pay a portion of the rental. The APP store and iphone are the embodiment of the Apple platform in the digital world and the real world, and have been taken as a model for the industry to emulate. Microsoft is not trying to subvert all this, but is eager to build its own business on that basis. To this end, the company paid a "rent": The iphone and other devices to provide users with the most valuable software free of charge.
Under Mr. Ballmer's leadership, Microsoft's business model was getting closer to Apple. And when Nadra took over the company, Microsoft began to move closer to Google (Weibo). Over the years, Google has developed a series of successful free services on external platforms.
The future of consumer technology lies in the mobile realm, which is not much disputed. For Apple, mobile technology means mobile devices, and for Microsoft, it means a mobile experience across devices. Whether on Android, IPhone, or Windows platforms, the underlying operating system is just the carrier of Microsoft's cloud computing services. Real computing devices don't matter to Microsoft, but they are important to Apple.
This strategic difference determines that two companies will focus on different areas of innovation:
Apple is committed to developing thinner, better, faster devices, while Microsoft is paying more attention to new modes of interaction, such as augmented reality equipment HoloLens.
The platform that Apple offers is in your hands, and Microsoft's platform is in the cloud. Apple has made huge profits, but Microsoft's new model has yet to be proven.
Microsoft to shake Apple: Different strategies for similar products
