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With Apple's announcement of OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud, Ballmer and the Redmond collective must be picking themselves off the floor trying to figure out what just happened.

Alas, not all is lost for Microsoft — if they follow my simple advise. Well, thinking about that again, the chance Microsoft might listen to reason instead of the Windows/Office juggernaut is slim to none —and slim left town!

For the last decade Microsoft has tried to "out-do" or match Apple's leap into the mobile world. After Plays-for-Sure failed against the iPod and iTunes ecosystem, Microsoft developed the Zune. To combat OS X & iOS and Microsoft launched Windows 7. While this strategy seems smart, or the best play, it's really not. Microsoft is playing right into the strength of Apple — innovation. It's like trying to beat a team who is really good when the pace of the game is fast and chaotic. Rather than playing a fast paced-game, the best move would be to play at a slower pace, eliminating the opponent's advantage.

Microsoft should try developing a real mobile OS (that people want). At the same time Microsoft should try changing the game to slow down Apple's momentum — or maybe even derail Apple for a bit.

One tactic would have Microsoft buying Dropbox. Dropbox is a favorite app used by many iPhone and iPad users to sync an move files back and forth between iOS and desktop computers. While iOS 5 and iCloud are going to make Dropbox less important, these syncing tools aren't available until the Fall. If Microsoft purchased Dropbox they could reap some benefits of learning first hand why this product is such a success to mobile computing. They could also learn how this technology works and how it was implemented. Another option is Microsoft turning off Dropbox immediately. This would make quite a few iOS customers mad, but again the goal here is to slow down the momentum of iOS not necessarily make friends.

While it sounds silly to give Microsoft advice, the bigger point is when dealing with a person, team or company that has an obvious advantage, focus instead on the opponent's weaknesses and attack there instead. Trying to hop a freight train at 50 MPH is nearly impossible, but one that has slowed to a crawl is far easier.

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1 Comment

1. nik ~ June 10, 2011 02:06
   First, don't give them ideas, I need Dropbox. Second, if Dropbox doesn't want to sell, nobody's buying it. Third, turning it off would piss some people off but would certainly not result in long term gains for MS. Dropbox competitors would spring up and fill the gap immediately, too. What Microsoft needs to do - I don't know; maybe give up and focus on those areas where they're successful: Windows, Office, and these days also XBOX. Windows Phone is an important strategic play for them but I can't imagine the outcome to be anything but failure. Dragging Nokia down with them while they're at it. Nobody wants WP... it's my belief that MS simply doesn't have the technical prowess to make it good. iCloud is a good example - MS could have done all of that with WP / Windows. But they didn't have the ideas. Even if they did have the ideas, they wouldn't be able to do it because of the mess that is the Windows API. MS is run by the marketing man so they're stuck with glossy brochures and not much else. Now they'll start copying Apple, and they'll get done 2 years from now, and by then it will be too late. Again.

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