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There was a time not long ago that Microsoft dominated the world of computing and chaired the discussions about its future.  Today, that notion is almost laughable, or at least highly contended as Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook dominate the landscape.  Apple in particular is leading the mobile and app economies.  However, to think that Apple’s success stems from 2002 and 2007 until now, with the introduction of the iPod, iPhone and iPad, is to miss the broader underlying shift in computing preference that have evolved.

Back in the 1980’s, the PC was a true revolution for businesses and to a lesser extent individuals. Much like Netscape and the internet would do a decade and a half later, the PC fundamentally changed our ability to perform certain tasks and relay information.  The largest push of this wave of computing was from the business and productivity side (expense being part of that issue).  The PC was a productivity tool – a way to process and create massive amounts of information and perform programmed tasks quickly.  Sure, there were early attempts at creative uses, and publishing was important.  But, by a wide margin, the driving force was productivity and interoperability.  Hence, the Microsoft software that was installed on the majority of computers (a very savvy deal with IBM) extracted nearly all of the value and mind share from computing over the coming two decades.  Apple sold PCs, and software, but it was a distant second.  By the mid 1990’s, Apple was nearly bankrupt.  This was despite a strong presence in the education market and with creative professionals.  That’s right, even back then, Apple made better multimedia software.  However, very few people outside of publishing, digital media and the yearbook committee used it.

Fast forward to 2002, Apple has been saved from the abyss and has a fresh look to its Mac lineup, as well as continued support from its die hard community.  But nothing ground breaking and very few new mac users.  The iPod is launched amid the surge in need for MP3 players to match the rise in downloaded music (largely by illegal means at that point). Early on the iPod had plently of competition, and while its hardware was cooler (it was) its success was not given.  The first iteration only supported iTunes on Mac and there was a slow ramp… once iTunes was introduced for Windows based PCs the growth curve went parabolic.  Apple supplied elegant hardware, smooth software, and a digital library and store that was legal.  This marriage of hardware and software is true to Apple’s roots and adding inexpensive legal downloads of songs was a differentiating factor and introduced non-Apple fans to the company’s products and services.  With each iPod iteration, leading up to the iPhone in 2007 (including improved iMacs and MacBooks) Apple improved its form factor, the software to hardware link, and continually impressed consumers with its stellar multi-media applications -winning new Apple fans.  In fact, to this day, nearly 50% of Macs sold in Apple stores are new to Mac.

One of the main reasons I see that Apple became the dominant force it is today – is not necessarily that they all of a sudden had a huge product breakthrough and quality improvement, but rather that their greatest strength, multi-media, was now what the market demanded.  The 90’s were about the productivity suite, the 2000’s shifted to multi-media.  Therefore, Apple, by staying true to its mission and core strength, dominated.

So what?  As it turns out, Microsoft was not very good at delivering a strong multimedia experience for consumers.  Not that they are “bad” – but just not in the same league as Apple.  Add to that the missteps in mobile, and Mr. Softie quickly lost mind share.  However, something funny is happening today – while Apple is slowly making in-roads in the enterprise segment due to its iPhone and iPad capabilities – the enterprise community and cloud computing are bringing productivity back into the spotlight.  Tools, platforms and apps for the cloud.  Given that the vast majority of enterprise computing still operates on Windows, Microsoft has been presented an opportunity to regain mind share   After all, productivity IS what they do.  Now, this is not a given, for sure, just like Apple had to take the reigns in multimedia with its seamless hardware / software relationship.  The push toward mobile and apps is not “traditional” enterprise and productivity computing.  Microsoft will need to deliver strong products that, in some ways, undercut their existing, traditional, enterprise software sale.  They need to be a little bold.  But think about it – if most all business documents are still Microsoft, and many businesses still run exchange servers, and Microsoft is trying to push into the data center – what better opportunity to rework the system and deliver enterprise anywhere type solution – view, edit, create, communicate on any document with anyone in you contacts from any approved device.  Productivity.

Time will tell – but it is worth noting that not all of Apples success is because Steve Jobs is a visionary (which he was) – or that “Apple just makes better products” – some of it has to do with the fact that the market finally cared about the type of product Apple made – timing matters.  Keep an eye on Microsoft’s moves to offer end-to-end productivity software solutions to the enterprise using cloud and tablets -it matters again.