How to create a new Microsoft and dominate the marketplace
Bill Gates left Microsoft last week after 33 years dominating the age of PC computing.
He got a couple of things right. First of all, when a contemporary, said there would only ever be a couple of computers in the world, Gates saw that in fact it would be a high-volume, low-margin business.
Secondly, he didn’t try to dominate both hardware and software. He chose Intel, and through the “Win-tel” partnership, they together dominated the market. Apple tried to do both, and got no other vendors to endorse their vision
Thirdly, he didn’t get precious about great products, but copied them. In doing so, he won the bigger battle creating a platform which dominated an industry for a generation.
A platform builds an ecosystem. Smart entrepreneurs know how to align the interests of all of the parties in their natural ecosystem. There are great product companies in the world which never become platforms, but their market potential is always limited. Jobs learned this lesson, and has been delivering new devices to the user of content – the iPod, iPhone and the Apple tv product.
Gates was a business – not just a technology – genius. Marketing trumps technology – always.
Closer to home, Alastair Lukies, boss of Monitise, is shifting a global paradigm equivalent in its impact to the one which Gates moved in the PC world. Lukies’ Monilink platform is now set to grow in Asia and Africa in addition to the US and UK where Monitise has deep banking and operator relationships.
Once you can do everything on your mobile that you could have done on your PC or at an ATM, then people will shop from their mobiles. Those who will win in the next generation must be hardwired for a flat world – and they must move fast.