No entrepreneur, manager, strategic planner or business leader can afford the luxury of either 1) bullying his discontented but seemingly enslaved customer base and being unresponsive (very poor CEM - Customer Experience Management), or 2) hiding in his posh headquarters and falling asleep to the sound of his own lullaby. Hate it, but I'll say it: "You snooze, you lose." Even better (Douglas Castle channeling the late Johnny Cochran): "The best never, ever rest." This has become mantra at TNNWC Group, LLC.
----------------Apple Computer Captures, and Continues to Dominate the Market for Business Users, Entrepreneurs and the Consumer Marketplace.
Say what you'd like about Steve Jobs and his health issues, and say what you will about former boy wonder Bill Gates, but Apple has stolen the torch from Microsoft, as well as from all of Microsoft's fragmented competitors, and virtually every company in the communications applications space.The iPod started the resurgence of the brand, and the continued unveiling of increasingly versatile, innovative and sexy devices and applications are securing Apple's dominance, as surely as the Millenials are texting more than they are emailing. Jobs caught a trend early, marketed into it, and then drove the market with the force of his brand and dominance. Expect Apple to outperform and outshine Microsoft at an increasing differential as the computer/commmunications landscape is shaped by Apple as the industry's best known and most reputably innovative brand.
Expect this trend toward ever-smaller and sleeker communication devices, quick texting and applications to far surpass the PC and notebook world of Microsoft. There's also the issue of Microsoft's (and especially Bill Gates') being perceived as bullies and pirates -- they not only have a problem in the futurism and strategic planning department, but they are seen as insensitive to negative feedback and growing resentment on the part of small business and home users. Bill has an image problem, which is being further enhanced by his seeming obliviousness to it. He is not the "trusted savior" as Jobs is perceived as being.
Something else of note: Apple watches trends and rides them, while Microsoft is trying to coast on the laurels of its pricing, established marketshare, and brand. Apple interacts with its potential customers to incorporate their crowdsourced, collective insight into products being developed -- this is not only a wonderful source of information, but it gives the contributors (the prospective customers) an emotional and psychological ownership in Apple's products and success.
An article from AP (Associated Press) punches the point home by citing statistics regarding the two goliaths and their implications:
####
Apple juggernaut sends ripples through tech world
NEW YORK – Consumer technology companies reporting financial results this week are looking like rowboats bobbing in the wake of Apple Inc.'s supertanker.
Close to oblivion in 1997, Apple is now the world's second-most valuable company, after Exxon Mobil Corp. On April 20, it reported net income of $5.99 billion for the January-to-March period, nearly double that of a year ago. It shipped a record 18.65 million iPhones during the quarter. Its iPad tablet computers are so popular, the company couldn't make enough.
Apple's ascendancy has produced many losers and a few winners, as underscored over the past two weeks:
• Microsoft Corp.: loser.
Apple dethroned Microsoft as the world's most valuable technology company a year ago. In its mid-fall report, it surpassed Microsoft in quarterly revenue. In the January-March period this year, it surpassed Microsoft in net income, too.
On Thursday, Microsoft reported that revenue from the Windows operating system declined for the second straight quarter because people are buying fewer Windows computers.
Some prospective buyers are going to Macs instead — Apple reported that it sold 28 percent more units. Others are going to iPads. Goldman Sachs now believes that more than 30 percent of iPads sold may be replacing PC sales. In the 90s, the trend was the opposite, as Windows PCs were crowding out Macs.
• Nokia Corp.: loser.
Nokia said this week that it will slash 7,000 jobs through layoffs and outsourcing. It still sells more phones than anyone else, but it's losing share to Apple, especially when it comes to smartphones.
Research firm Strategy Analytics also said revenue from Apple's iPhone sales surpassed that of Nokia's phones in the January-to-March period, as iPhones are much more expensive than the average Nokia phone. That makes Apple the world's largest phone maker by revenue.
To better compete with the iPhone, Nokia is ditching its old Symbian software and adopting Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. But the transition will take time; the first Windows-powered Nokia phones aren't expected until late 2011 or early 2012.
• Research In Motion Ltd.: loser.
The maker of the BlackBerry is in a predicament that's similar to Nokia's. RIM warned Thursday that net income, revenue and unit sales for the quarter ending in May will come in below its previous forecast.
The company's high-end phones are looking old compared with the iPhone and ones running Google Inc.'s Android software. They aren't selling as well as the company expected.
RIM promised investors that new phones with revamped software will bring sales roaring back in the latter half of the year, but investors are skeptical, sending RIM's stock down Friday.
• HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.: winners, indirectly.
Although all three companies compete with Apple's iPhone, they are doing well. Unlike Nokia and RIM, the three are betting on Google's Android system, which comes the closest to mimicking the look, feel and functions of the iPhone.
Motorola Mobility is a shadow of the old Motorola, once the world's second-largest maker of phones. But its focus on Android-powered smartphones is showing signs of success. It reported on Thursday a near-doubling of smartphone sales in the first quarter.
HTC of Taiwan has been making smartphones for a decade, and sales are really taking off with the help of Android. On Friday, it reported selling 9.7 million in the first quarter.
For South Korea's Samsung, smartphone sales were a bright spot in the first quarter as overall phone sales declined and other electronics were weak. The company is embroiled in patent litigation with Apple.
• Verizon Wireless: winner.
The No. 1 U.S. cellphone carrier posted a jump in new contract-signing customers — the more profitable kind — after it introduced its version of the iPhone on Feb. 10, which ended AT&T Inc.'s exclusive grip on the device in the U.S.
(Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. of New York and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.)
• AT&T and Sprint Nextel Corp: mixed.
Verizon's new subscribers came at the expense of AT&T and Sprint Nextel Corp. But neither carrier saw signs of current customers moving to Verizon for the sake of the iPhone. Rather, it seems customers weighing between carriers were more likely to go to Verizon because of the iPhone.
AT&T appeared to be splitting new iPhone customers evenly with Verizon Wireless.
Sprint lost lucrative contract customers in the quarter, but continued its long turnaround by signing up a record number of people on cheaper, contract-free plans.
####
In summary," it's mobile apps, chaps". Observe the trends, then get at the front of the line and lead them. Tactics such as "cheaper," "no contracts," and "signing on bonuses" are a temporary fix -- in fact, they are perceived by many securities and industry analysts as predictive of impending failure due to genuine innovation. Apple products are not inexpensive -- but they offer the most user-responsive value proposition.
Watch the trends. Anticipate where they may lead. Prepare (learn to surf so that you don't get crushed by the wave) with insightful but flexible strategic planning. Implement. Profit.
Part of intelligent leadership is to gain as much possible insight into where your prospective market is going and to leverage this knowledge. Standing firm and resisting will only break you when the winds get too rough. Adapt to the world of Apps.
Faithfully,
Douglas Castle,
The Global Futurist
Tags, Labels, Keywords, Terms: Branding, Buzzworks, trending, millenials, image management, customer experience management, market responsiveness, The Blue Tuesday Report, The National Networker (TNNWC) Weekly Newsletter, Visionary Benefactors Of Entrepreneurship, messaging, media mastery, Blogs by Douglas Castle, shifts in communications methods, texting versus email, the marketability of trust, market forecasting, adaptation and evolution, staging a business comeback, reputation management, Technullity, Buzzicology, smallerizing, market appeal, unveiling products, making news, TNNWC News Releases, exploiting media leaks and mystery...
Wordpress Selected Research Items:
- Microsoft Corp.
- iPod
- Exxon Mobil Corp.
- Windows operating system
- Bill Gates
- iPhones
- Steve JobsPromoted
- Associated Press
- Microsoft's
- Millenials
- iPad 2
- Hong Kong
- Windows PCs
- Nokia phone
THE GLOBAL FUTURIST - http://theglobalfuturist.blogspot.com/
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