Question

1.Evaluate Microsoft’s product and marketing evolution over the years. What has the company done well, and where did it falter?

Answer 1

1. Microsoft's product and marketing evolution

Microsoft has always been an Operating system company from the start. That is the core product that got them into business and has created the popularity that they have now. They currently enjoy a commendable market share with respect to the OS and the office tools with Apple iOS and tools coming a distant second. A major software player always needs to know what to market, whom to market and when to market their products. From its inception till 2000, it has always enjoyed a monopoly market in most of its products. Come 2000, it has faced severe competition from Google in search engines and Apple in OS and other software. This has in a way forced them to start diversification in their lines of business. With the advent of technology and smart phones, Windows tried to penetrate the mobile OS market as it had a greater penetration rate than any of the other channels. This channel created huge pressure and expectations for Microsoft within. So, it started coming out with Windows mobile OS and also tried its hand in smartphones through the acquisition of Nokia. But clearly it forgot that its core product was the operating system and will always be the operating system and that’s why it took a long time to release a proper OS for the users after Windows XP came in 2001. Windows 7 was one of the hit OSes that came from Microsoft in a long time as Vista didn’t work well with the customers and consumers. However now it has come on the right track with the right set of portfolio and with a good market share in the gaming industry through Xbox, it has created a nice for itself in the gaming and experience industry. This success has also led to an improved performance in its OS division through Windows 10, which has given a nice experience for the customers so far. With Microsoft announcing end of sale for Windows 8.1 and only downgrade support for Windows 7 cost increasing day by day , it clearly shows that Microsoft's current strategy is to bring all its customers under a single umbrella of Windows 10 soon.

Microsoft has always been an Operating system company from the start. That is the core product that got them into business and has created the popularity that they have now.