Microsoft's Loss of Edge Against Apple

In the IT battle between Microsoft and Apple, Microsoft has begun to lose its edge. Apple's value has already surpassed Microsoft's. Consumers had known that Microsoft isn't the leader in the technology industry for a very long period of time. On the other hand, investors finally used their power to approve consumers' viewpoint only recently.

In April 2010, Microsoft's market value still $25 billion over Apple's value. Yet, no one had predicted things could change so fast. In May 2010, Apple had come from behind and now surpassed Microsoft by almost $3 billion dollar market value. Microsoft's consumers and products services are still struggling today in this economy. On the other hand, Apple keeps introducing their new and hot products, such as iPad and iPhone. As expected, Microsoft's stock price tumbled more than 15% in the last month, while Apple's stock price was only down 6% in the same period of time.

Microsoft's loss of its leadership position in the technology industry means that Wall Street sees a better growth and brighter future in Apple than in Microsoft. Apple has shown a very high growth potential. Apple introduced the red hot iPad right after introducing its new iPhone. Meanwhile, Microsoft has been seen as weak in the area of new products and growth. Microsoft's reputation as the technology leader had also taken a big hit after they announced a large adjustment to its management crew. Robbie Bach, who has led Microsoft's entertainment and products line, and supervised brand new consumer products such as Xbox and Zune, would retire in the fall of 2010. Amid the heat of losing its leadership position, Microsoft was forced to make big changes to revive itself.

Microsoft's problem is not that it couldn't find its customers. Even though some customers were lost to Microsoft's competitors, Microsoft involved itself in a futile and purposeless competition with Apple on new products. Microsoft put too much effort into finding a product that could directly compete with Apple's. Microsoft's priority should not be to compete directly with Apple. To Microsoft, services to business, education institutions and other institutions should take precedence over its purposeless competition with Apple. Services to these institutions will immediately give Microsoft an immense edge again in the technology industry.

After the new Windows 7 operating system becomes successful in the market, Microsoft's profits have seen significant growth. On the other hand, after iPhone's great sales, Apple's revenue and profits also make its record book. Microsoft's many plans have seen little to no profits. For example, Microsoft's Zune, a music player directly used as a competitor against Apple iPod, became totally incompetent against iPod. Meanwhile, Microsoft had even considered introducing a brand new desktop to compete with iPad.

With Zune's bad sales, a lack of market share in the mobile industry and Microsoft's inability to compete with iPad, a majority of consumers are still using Microsoft's Office and Windows. Thus, Microsoft should focus on its important business services. Only on the basis of continued success in this area should Microsoft find a new direction and new creative product to compete with Apple.