.. what would you do?
Following recent threads on why different companies failed, what would be your strategic decision if you are a board member?
Agreed that decisions are often based on factual data and lots of industry insight but we can still use some common sense and make some interesting comments here :)
I start with few...
Nokia - once a leader, now trailing behind. I think their strategic decision to go Windows Mobile is wrong and should have gone with Android instead.
Microsoft - still a very respectable name, but Windows 8 did't meet the hype. May be they are best for PC based business application and too late for touch screen tablets?
Mercedes - Bring back legendary engineering. Make cars to last and not softwares to expire.
|
>> Nokia - once a leader, now trailing behind. I think their strategic decision to go
>> Windows Mobile is wrong and should have gone with Android instead.
Mrs A works for them. She is sitting at home today awaiting a call form her boss to tell her if if she's redundant or receiving a probably temporary stay of execution. They're pretty much shrinking their staff back to Finland, and we're not moving there thanks very much. What with her other concerns, it's pretty much "wotevs" though.
|
Microsoft
To a dyed in the whool XP user like me, I think MS missed a trick in not charging an annual maintenance fee for keeping XP updated, while it had such a large following and many people wanted to keep it. They could still drop that later if that was what they wanted to do.
I would willingly pay £30 or so per annum to keep it going. I have a fast win7 laptop with i5 dual processor, but give me my desktop XP anytime. I even bought one of the last available XP sp3 CD's as a spare.
If it were not for touch screens (of doubtful advantage for a desktop), Win8 could have arisen from the following reasoning, and every time I see it, it reminds me of that.
OK chaps, we are going to design a system that operates with one finger. Oops, we need bigger desktop icons for our finger. Oops, we can't get them all on the one desktop. Never mind we can have pages of them.
My XP and a mouse are OK for me. And I have all the icons on one screen. Well, almost. I do have a few icons that open a subfolder of them. Confusing? No not at all because I have an Icon maker and over the years I have made all sorts of distinctive different ones and use grouping and colour schemes.
Is it still possible to use 'drag and drop' with Win-8? Very useful at times, to quickly find if a program will operate with said drop item.
|
busbee
Great minds think alike.
I have done EXACTLY the same.
Microsoft could charge me £30 pa maintenance anytime and I would pay...
But for what I need - internet/spreadsheet/photos/letters - no need to switch.
Remember Microsoft have failed to launch any OS in the past 20 years without MAJOR revisions a year later... (you would think they would have learned summat but obviously they know better)
They will end up like Nokia if they go on like this.
Last edited by: madf on Fri 18 Jan 13 at 13:03
|
>> They will end up like Nokia if they go on like this.
>>
Who is waiting in the wings to replace them?
|
Windows Mobile will become the corporate market leader. I'm not sure Nokia's strategy was duff in that respect.
Resting on their laurels and doggedly sticking with Symbian while Android and iOS happened was a bit stupid.
|
|
Now Steve Jobs has gone... I would say Apple's position will weaken. Remember without him they nearly went bankrupt before. They could easily squander the lead they have and waste the tens/hundreds of billions in the bank.
|
>> Now Steve Jobs has gone... I would say Apple's position will weaken. Remember without him
>> they nearly went bankrupt before. They could easily squander the lead they have and waste
>> the tens/hundreds of billions in the bank.
>>
Agreed.
The problem with an incredibly successful company run by a control freak is what happens when the control freak is no longer around.
Jobs was said to have had his hand in almost everything Apple did, and gave his people very little autonomy. It clearlyworked, because Apple went from an obscure, struggling multimedia company to the worlds most valuable company in little more than a decade. Now he's gone, it would be illogical to think nothing will change.
I've also noticed a change in Apple's customer base that I know. The unwavering brand loyalty is starting to crumble. The change in the iPhone 5's connector annoyed a lot of people, for starters. It was a hassle with no good technical reason behind it, and everyone knew it. Then the Maps cock-up. Then the massive leaps made by Android and rival handset manufacturers in recent years.
Last edited by: DP on Fri 18 Jan 13 at 19:12
|
And defending their market through litigation won't work long term. A lot of the patents won't be defendable either.
They need more innovation and Tim Cook is not the person to provide it. The stores were a good idea (still are) but even they need new direction/management.
|
Iphone 5 did not move the game on any for Apple above Andriod, nothing "must have" about it and plenty of "thats bad" included.
IPAD mini was a good step, but they better have something good in the pipeline or they will be quickly reduced to a niche computer maker again, albeit pretty rich niche computer maker.
|
Step-son upgraded to an iPhone 5 recently. I've been used to a larger (useful to me) phone screen for years. I said you words to the effect: "you must think the iPhone 4 screen was too small now".... he thought the iPhone 5 was too big.
iPad mini was probably overdue but as you say Z they need more. They might be rich now and the cash pile will last for a long time. But big names like Sony, Panasonic, etc. are suffering. These made poor decisions and Apple better not do the same.
A bit threat to all product companies pushing technology (like phones) is China. Even Taiwan is suffering. Japan definitely so.
So Apple's next move which is happening soon I think is to assemble some products in the USA. Expensive but they might make people pay the existing premiums for products. Not extra cost just keeping it as is and the Americans might lap it up again.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 18 Jan 13 at 21:33
|
>> Now Steve Jobs has gone... I would say Apple's position will weaken. Remember without him they nearly went bankrupt before. They could easily squander the lead they have and waste the tens/hundreds of billions in the bank.
>>
I've been saying that since he passed away.
And, I would say it has already started, the fiasco over mapping, and other issues with the new os, would never have happened under his leadership.
A few years from now, Apple will be a has-been.
|
|
Maybe they'll return to their core business.
|
>> Resting on their laurels and doggedly sticking with Symbian while Android and iOS happened was a bit stupid.
They didn't and had alternatives and then decided to junk them. I've read plenty on how poorly run it all was and they had a lot of competing products internally. The Meego platform might have been good if it came out years earlier.
|
Nokia have made a wise move shifting to Windows Mobile. The needed to be different, they had no chance of matching the cheap far east makers on Android. As far as shrinking back staff to Finland, again wise, you dont need a large workforce all over europe - except sales.
NO company lasts forever without having a crisis or two along the way.
And as for staying on XP? what the hell for? Windows 7 is vastly superior in every respect
|
I am actually a fan of WIndows 8, I hated it at first but its so fast, I will be upgrading my office PC to Windows 8, but I will keep 7 on my home PC.
I actually understand Microsofts decision with Windows 8. My parents find it very easy to use, and was talking to my uncle before who is in mid 60's, he also loves Windows 8 and loves the speed etc.
I can see why some people hate it though.
As for XP its a dead duck, its very out dated in many many ways.
As for phones fashons change, although I am now a big big fan of Samsung after my Galaxy S 1 survived a bath.
The rot for Nokia probably started with Sony Erricson as they were the must have phones around 2006. Then some how Sony took their eye of the ball and Apple, HTC and Samsung took over the market. My mother has some sort of Android Sony with a built in keyboard, its a very very nice phone and I am intending to get one for my business phone to replace my Blackberry crap. Not sure what Nokia could have done different really, but they tried to make Symbian live too long. I had a few Nokia S series phones and I loved them all.
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 18 Jan 13 at 15:41
|
>> Nokia have made a wise move shifting to Windows Mobile. The needed to be different,
>> they had no chance of matching the cheap far east makers on Android. As far
>> as shrinking back staff to Finland, again wise, you dont need a large workforce all
>> over europe - except sales.
>>
>>
>> NO company lasts forever without having a crisis or two along the way.
>>
>> And as for staying on XP? what the hell for? Windows 7 is vastly superior
>> in every respect
>>
Simple
It does what I want.
Period.
|
|
7 does it faster. And better.
|
>> 7 does it faster. And better.
>>
But what I have is fast enough a it is: indeed PCPitstop told me my PC was in the top 2% of all PCs running their tests.
(hand built with secondhand items . Total Cost £120 Overclocked Quad4 9200)
If I buy Windows 7 or 8, I need a new scanner.. Waste of money as it works perfectly for teh few times a year I need it..
|
>> 7 does it faster. And better.
What on old hardware? I wonder how fast XP (patched to take advantage of say 8 threads) would be on a 16GB Core i7 quad core with hyperthreading? Of course XP won't take advantage of a lot of the new hardware etc and won't run the latest/greatest games with the best visuals.
If you're hardware is capable of running Windows 7, Zero's right in saying why not. It's fast, stable and very good. I'm not convinced with the touch oriented interface in Windows 8 modern UI.
|
>> I'm not convinced with the touch oriented interface in
>> Windows 8 modern UI.
>>
I was sceptical at first as well, but I bought new laptop a few weeks ago for home use. It came with Windows 8 and it also has a touch screen; I have to say it works very well indeed at home, but probably less so at work when plugged into the H&S mandated docking station with attached keyboard, mouse and monitor!!
|
Windows Mobile will become the corporate market leader.
Really? I don't agree. I think that ship has sailed without Microsoft; even if iPhone isn't the best technical solution for corporate use, the pressure from employees is just too strong. Blurry has his, mine is in the post and it's all my customers want to hear about. I talk a lot to them about mobilizing corporate and specialist applications and none of them has ever asked about Windows Mobile.
If I were Microsoft I'd be focusing on making sure my application suites were as platform-independent as possible, and looking for ways to shore up my position in the server market. I'm not sure the Windows desktop, fixed or mobile, has a long-term future.
|
|
Lots of companies now replaced blackberries with iPhones.
|
|
"making sure my application suites were as platform-independent" that's what's happening. The Bank where I am managing a PC deployment project are replacing laptops with thin client desktops, and the users are happier not having unwieldy bits of kit to lug around. They also have remote connection capability to connect from any machine of their choosing, and will be moving to a Bring Your Own policy - already do-able but will expand rapidly over the next 18 months. I don't see them being obligated to Windows much longer for client PCs.
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 18 Jan 13 at 17:33
|
I rented a space and facilities from a design agency in W1 a few years ago.
I used the board room table of course but they weren't happy that I'd damaged it. It's covered in scratches and deep gouges caused by the studs on denim jeans and leather belts.
Last edited by: BiggerBadderDave on Fri 18 Jan 13 at 18:50
|
|
Sounds kinky Dave that's what board room tables are for.
|
>> It's covered in scratches and deep gouges caused by the studs on denim jeans and leather belts
I thought you were supposed to take those off first?
|
I have had a laptop running Win7 with an i5 for about 18 months that is fast enough to play games, but I am not interested in games. I still much prefer my XP Pro duo for what I do. I can find what I want quicker.
Last time we were all doing PC speed tests on here, of what I saw published, surprisingly, my XP was faster than most. OK, not the latest Ivy bridge processor, but I don't suffer from slowness. 45 seconds from hibernate to a complete desktop display.
It is not straight out of the box. It's been very much adapted. I have all the design programs I need. No incentive to change -- until I can't get drivers for replacement equipment, printer etc., that I might need in future.
Last edited by: busbee on Sun 20 Jan 13 at 15:40
|
If you are in the board meeting now... - Alanovich
