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VIDEOWhy Microsoft, HP Will Never Catch Apple
By
Michael Comeau
Jul 30, 2010 8:25 am
Both companies are so focused on copying the Apple of today, they'll never be able to compete with the Apple of the future.
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It’s not for nothing -- Apple has revolutionized the mp3 player, smartphone, and tablet-computer markets with incredibly well-thought-out and forward-thinking products. Simultaneously, the company became the world’s best electronics retailer, climbed the PC market-share ladder, and built an unmatched stable of loyal fans.
As a result, Apple’s market share across all product categories, profits, and media power have gone through the roof, with Texas A&M researchers going so far as to describe the Apple phenomena as “implicit religion.”
Now the competition wants their own Apple-like movements, driven by Apple-like products and Apple-like business models.
Can it work? Let’s look at the players.
Microsoft’s (MSFT) Checklist Manifesto
The folks at Redmond have clearly done their homework, even putting together a now-famously leaked presentation discussing “how Apple does it.”
Microsoft is taking a sort of checklist approach to taking down the Apple juggernaut:
1. Focus on making secure, easy-to-use products. Check!2. Push into tablets following the iPad’s runaway success. Check!
3. Open more Microsoft stores to mimic Apple’s high-touch sales and customer-service capabilities. Check!
4. Launch the Windows Phone 7 operating system, strictly following the iPhone feature template. Check!
Microsoft’s leadership assumes following Apple’s lead will generate Apple-like success. It isn’t the craziest solution for Microsoft’s current malaise, but it’s also not the most creative.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): The Dark Horse
The smartest thing Hewlett-Packard has done under CEO Mark Hurd has been the acquisition of Palm.
Palm’s webOS operating system gives HP’s consumer business a chance to get out of a system-integrator role and into an Apple-like provider of all-in-one technology products. The main reason Apple’s computers kick butt is because Apple controls both hardware and software -- everything is made to work together.
Ownership of webOS helps HP escape Microsoft’s Windows baggage. Most of the world’s computers still run on Windows, but Windows is a dead brand in mobile unless Windows Phone 7 turns out to be a monster hit.
Pushing all-in-one HP computers and tablets isn't as over-the-top and shameless as Microsoft’s plans, but it’s sensible. HP will still integrate Microsoft and Google (GOOG) operating systems into its products while it muscles webOS up for battle.
Why They Won’t Work
Microsoft’s strategy fails immediately because it depends on the cooperation of hardware partners. Once you have a partner, you lose some brand identity.
A key component of Apple’s success is the aforementioned control of both hardware and software. No matter how good a software product Microsoft makes, it's still left with commodity hardware partners like Dell (DELL) that have never wowed consumers.
What’s more is that Microsoft’s biggest hardware partner is HP -- a company that now owns its own competing operating system. Plus, Google is now in the game with its Android and Chrome operating systems, which have won over the likes of Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, and Acer.
To really take the Apple route, Microsoft would have to focus on producing all-in-one products rather than being one part, albeit a very big one, of the supply chain.As for HP, I like that it's taking a clear step towards proprietary, all-in-one products that are well-differentiated from the competition.
I just worry that it can’t go all the way.
Given the sheer size of its PC business (25% of the market), HP will always have to keep a foot in the Windows camp. Therefore, it will never truly differentiate itself as a company, which is an important piece of the puzzle. As proprietary as webOS is, a big chunk of HP will always produce pure commodity products that fail to excite both consumers and investors.
The Time Factor
Both companies also lack something very important: time in the game. Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard are embarking upon business strategies Apple has pursued for the past three decades, and they’re doing it with product lines that are years behind the times.
Here at Minyanville, I’ve harped quite a bit on technology companies’ overwhelming focus on fighting today’s battles rather than defining tomorrow’s.
And that’s what we’re seeing here -- a fight for 2010 when 2011 is right around the corner.
I’d just like to know: If Microsoft and HP are focused so much on copying the Apple of today, how can they possibly compete with the Apple of 2015 or 2020?
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