As Apple leaps past Microsoft in market share, Steve Ballmer isn’t worried because “94 times out of a 100 somebody picks a Windows PC.” I think Microsoft should be worried though, mainly because they seem to be struggling to get into online mode.
The root of all online growth comes from “remarkableness”, that is, the likeliness of people spreading the words about your company/product/service.
More often than not, the growth is organic, not structural.
Attention online is not bought or even planned. They are earned, and often come from places that you don’t expect. There is no one model to follow. Even if you duplicate EVERYTHING Google has done up to this point, you are not likely to achieve the same kind of success.
I think one of the major problems with Microsoft isn’t that they don’t have enough talent or experience. They do. Unfortunately, all the brilliant minds seem to be finding to ways to cancel each other out which ultimately result in compromises. Compromises don’t lead to bad products. They simply prevent people from talking about you because you have already found and resolved any controversies before they even begin.
Microsft doesn’t need to be very good — they have done plenty of that and people expect them to. They need to be great.
While controversies don’t always translate into greatness, greatness, when it’s first born, is almost always controversial.
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