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08.01.07
Microsoft Is Still Product-Driven
 By Barry Welford
According to the New York Times, Bill Gates is leaving his position at the head of Microsoft in a time of great change.
Perhaps there is less change than one might imagine. Just over a year ago we thought Microsoft went Customer-Centric. In June 2006, we wrote:
Now the buck no longer stops with Bill Gates. Ray Ozzie is presumably the final authority on most strategic questions, even though they must be confirmed by the largest shareholder. Ozzie is much more attuned to the grassroots nature of Internet market places. Perhaps the latest moves on Microsoft brands might have gone slightly differently if done a year from now.
A new interview might raise questions about that.
It featured Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates, and his designated successors: Craig Mundie, head of research and strategy, and Ray Ozzie, top software architect.
There is an emphasis on products similar to what has been seen in the past:
Microsoft is calling its strategy "software plus services," an approach that is intended to protect the company's existing installed base. .. Microsoft is now moving quickly to offer new Internet services for personal computer users. Centralized data storage will make it possible for PC users to gain access to most or all of their information from all of the different types of computers they use, whether they are desktops, laptops or smart phones, and wherever they are located.
Bill Gates said the center of gravity in the computer industry has dramatically shifted toward software. "Why do you like your iPod, your iPhone, your Xbox 360, your Google Search?" he said. "The real magic sauce is not the parts that we buy for the Xbox, or the parts that Apple buys for iPhones, it's the software that goes into it."
…
Microsoft's chairman said it was unlikely that Google would be able to make inroads into the Microsoft's share of market for mobile phone software. The ability to create compelling software will determine the winners. "The phone is becoming way more software intensive," he said. "And to be able to say that there's some challenge (from Google) for us in the phone market when it's becoming software intensive, I don't see that."
That sounds as product-driven as ever, but perhaps if Bill Gates is taking a back seat, his successors will apply a more customer-centric viewpoint.
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About the Author:
Barry Welford, President of SMM Strategic Marketing Montreal works with business owners and senior management on Internet Marketing strategy and action plans to grow their companies. He is a moderator at the Cre8asite Forums and writes on current issues on the Internet and on the Mobile Web in three blogs, BPWrap, StayGoLinks and The Other Bloke's Blog.
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