The trend doesn't stop: Google search keeps rising, Microsoft plunging. The latest data reports Microsoft US Search dropping below 1 Billion hits last August.
And with respect to Mobile things are preparing to get worse: in a couple of days T-Mobile will release the first Google based phone. A phone with Google's brand and usability and opened to application development will surely eat much of Microsoft's share.
On the browser market, IE is still loosing space against Firefox (ok, Firefox is not Google, nevertheless Google pays 85% of Firefox's bills). And Chrome will rise, the only doubt is who will give away more market share to Google.
So what should Microsoft do about it?
- Buying out on the search market doesn't seem to help - the obvious choice failed (besides, they are also on a loosing trend). Unless Microsoft can find a revolutionary search company, Microsoft as to earn this market.
- Mobile is not as bad as it seems the minute we put a decent shell above it. It looks like some shell and some core apps might do the trick. Here Microsoft as a strong position on the AD/Exchange integration, but that doesn't say much for the consumer market.
- The browser market is moving the right way: toward W3C compatibility. Though many advogate IE should adopt an open source rendering and javascript engine, Microsoft needs to keep control on IE if not for others, to support it's intranet strategy.
- Microsoft need to invest more on less resource-hungry systems.
The time to sell just using Microsoft's brand as come to an end. Worse, Microsoft is experiencing a brand erosion effect, at least when compared to Apple and Google's branding.
So part of the solution is on the march: the PC Is not a Stereotype campaign. Ok, it doesn't work against Google, just Apple, but still a great start.
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