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April 22, 2016
By Bob O'Donnell
FOSTER CITY, Calif. — My how quickly things change in the tech world. Or, do they?
In a case of digital déjà vu, this week we once again find a behemoth of the tech industry, and a dominant player in operating systems for computing devices, being charged with monopolistic practices by an anti-trust commission from the European Union.
Of course, the players have changed. Back in 2003, it was Microsoft and Windows caught by the EU’s glare, and in 2016, it’s Google and Android.
But more things about these two companies, and their other compatriot in the battle of computing device operating systems — Apple, have changed than just a reversal in their battle against EU sanctions.
The whole landscape of what’s commonly known as “platforms.” essentially a framework built around a combination of hardware and software that allows individual apps to run, has been shifting for the last several years. And along with that technical shift, has come some dramatic shifts in perception.
A day after both Microsoft and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) announced somewhat disappointing earnings (at least to Wall Street) and just a few days before Apple announces what many expect could also be less-than-stellar numbers, the view of where each of these companies sits in the overall tech world has shifted.
In a somewhat interesting way, Microsoft has started to move into the innovator role that Google created and held onto for so long, while Google’s growth and increased transparency is revealing it to be the big, single product — advertising, in Google’s case — focused behemoth that
Microsoft once was. Similarly, as Apple’s hyper-growth has finally started to cool, it too is being seen as a more mature, measured company.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that these generalizations aren’t completely accurate representations of these three impressive companies, but there’s little question in most tech industry observers’ minds that shifts in these directions have been occurring, and they have been for some time.
Part of this has to do with the general maturation of the tech market itself. We’re moving away from a device- and standalone software-centric world, to a services and cloud-driven world where individual devices and individual applications matter less and less.
Interestingly, this is where these three major players are starting to show some distinct differences — some of which will have important implications for the future.
To its credit, Microsoft has taken a much more platform-agnostic approach to all of their cloud-based services than their competitors. It's as happy to sell an Office 365, Skype or other subscription for Google or Apple OS-powered devices as a Microsoft-powered one.
Apple, on the other hand, still only offers the best (and sometimes only) versions of its services, such as Apple Music, to customers with Apple hardware. Google arguably covers a few more options with its services than Apple, but they’re nowhere near as universal as Microsoft.
These different philosophical approaches to services arguably deliver more bragging value than real-world monetary differences. However, as we start to see the variety of different connected devices and new types of services expand, the ability to seamlessly work independent of the underlying platform is going to be a critical competitive advantage.
With the growth of everything from digital identity and authentication services for secure access to information, banking and shopping, to AI (artificial intelligence)-driven chatbots and other forms of invisible, ambient-style computing, the traditionally dominant role that platforms have long played in the tech world will change and likely decrease.
What remains unknown is exactly how this new world of capabilities will come together and how today’s dominant players will morph to meet these new requirements, while holding off challenges from “outsiders” like Amazon, Facebook and potentially others.
No matter how it ends up, the formation of these new tech landscapes will be fascinating to observe.
USA TODAY columnist Bob O'Donnell is the president and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, a market research and consulting firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. His clients are major technology firms including Microsoft, HP, Dell, and Nvidia. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech.
Here's a link to the original column: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2016/04/22/shifting-landscape-tech-platforms-services/83395034/ |
