Differentiation strategy and marketing strategies are a central theme in this article as we look at the changing trends in the PC and Microsoft market. As the author has mentioned, PC sales, which were under decline for a long time started to get steady in 2014. Considering that this was “good news”, we can comprehend how dire the situation is in the market. The new windows 10(after windows 8), so aptly named as a marketing strategy because consumers are found to prefer round numbers over odd numbers, is hyped to help the PC industry get back in demand. With different competitors competing to sell their product, Apply is the one out of the others whose differentiation strategy has allowed it to benefit, other than that HP is trying to differentiate by separating its PC and printer business into separate companies. Lenovo has also gained the number one position over HP in the last few years. Windows 8, which alienated consumers by introducing a design they were unfamiliar with was a lesson for Microsoft, and it is a lesson they intend to learn from. I was interested in how windows will gain back the potential consumer base it lost due to changing its product drastically. As it has been told in the article, windows will incorporate the original look by bringing back features such as the start bar as well as focus less on the box interface. Market research and operation decisions have helped Microsoft to realize the errors in their design and the consumer needs. The result was the announcement of features which will allow company owners to keep better control over employee work, a windows compatible with technology ranging from watches to PC,s and laptops. As marketing windows has even released test windows 10 which people can use and provide feedback on how they feel. This is an interesting marketing move which I think will earn more customer bases and loyalties as they will feel more involved in the final product design. In conclusion, I am interested by the marketing and differentiation strategies these companies are trying to employ to gain market share and compete, as well as the relationship between the companies themselves such as Microsoft and all other PC manufacturers. I will be keeping a close watch on the development of Windows 10 and how it stirs p the PC market, for better or for worse depends on how well they utilize the market research and consumer feedback they have at their disposal.
Source:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-11-06/2015-outlook-pc-makers-hope-windows-10-can-help-sales-grow-again#r=rss