I like Microsoft. I think Windows is a great operating system. The Office suite of products including Outlook, Project, and Visio are the tools I need to do my job on a day to day basis.

People, really smart people, continue to talk about Microsoft’s demise. They point to Microsoft’s decision to hire CP+B as an example of desperation. On some level, I agree. At the same time they’re shoveling dirt onto Microsoft’s grave, they’re placing Apple on a ridiculously high pedestal. On a lot of levels this is quite funny when you consider that Microsoft maintains more than 89% of the market share. But, I digress.

Microsoft’s problem as it relates to Apple has always been the same. Apple not only develops the software/operating system they’re also designing the hardware. They design the look and feel of the MacBook, iPhone, and iMac. They have 100% control over what the visual expression of the brand will be. That’s huge. Think about it. People don’t understand the nuts and bolts of an operating system. They can’t articulate memory leaks or poor coding. The options for hardware also confuse consumers. Does the consumer need 2gb of memory? 4gb? What about the video card? Oh and don’t forget do you need a 80gb or 200gb hard drive. There’s simply too many options.

But, what consumers do understand is the look of the actual hardware. The Macs are sexy. They’re sleek. They stand out. They’re light weight and have features their PC counterparts overlook; like the magnetic power cord. When you touch the Mac it feels good in your hands. When you consider that this concept is part of Apple’s culture it’s easy to see why the do such a great job with design. From the minute the consumer looks at the Mac and then subsequently touches it, an emotional connection is formed between Apple and the consumer. This is what allows them to leverage the Apple Store so well and why the newly announced Microsoft stores will fail.

Microsoft has little to no control over the actual hardware. Toshiba, HP, Dell, etc. all pick and choose different design options. Frankly, their design options are bland and lack a visual appeal. They just aren’t very sexy and because of that, it’s rare the consumer makes an emotional connection with a PC laptop or desktop. Now don’t get my wrong. You’re paying for this style, design, and emotional connection. Microsoft would have you believe you’re paying about $500.00 more.

The problem with this campaign and these ads are that Microsoft isn’t selling Microsoft – they’re selling HP or whatever computer manufacturer they feature. That’s a major disconnect, don’t you think? So long as Microsoft is at the mercy of their hardware partners they will continue to have this problem and all the advertising in the world won’t fix fix it.

They need a product that people want to touch, feel, and pick-up.  They don’t have one.  Not one consumer product (Microsoft Surface isn’t a consumer product) from the Zune to the Smart Phones is desirable.

Microsoft may be the only company where the standard advertising agency recommendation or “you need to evolve from a reason to believe to a reason to care…and establish an emotional connection with your consumer” – is 100% true.

These aren’t predictions.  There’ll be a separate post for that  These are simply the ten things I want to see happen next year.  Some are technology/internet based and some aren’t.  The list might seem random and eclectic, but that’s just how my mind works.

1. No More DRM – I hate DRM.  I love iTunes.  I want apple to get it’s act together and drop DRM from the iTunes store.  Just dropping it though won’t be enough.  They need to make music previously purchased by consumer convertible so that we/they can remove DRM.  Oh, and they need to make this reverse conversion free.
2. Crystal Pepsi – I want Crystal Pepsi back on the market.  They were too ahead of their time, when Pepsi release it.  It tasted/tastes great and Pepsi should consider bringing it back.
3. U.S. Auto Consolidation – We don’t need as many U.S. auto companies as we have and we don’t need as many product lines as we have.  I’d love to see GM and Chrysler merge.  I’d also like to see Ford get rid of brands like Mazda and Mercury.  We aren’t dumb, the Ford Taurus and the Mercury Milan are essentially the same car.  Hey GM, we don’t really need GMC, Saab, Saturn, and Buick.  Let’s consolidate and focus on making 1 or 2 car lines really good.
4. Hiring Smart People – Can we please stop hiring the same type of people?  It amazes me that as progressive as we’ve gotten we still hire archaically.  We still ask for X years of experience, Y type of degree, and of course the requisite MBA preferred.  Companies need to hire smart people that have a good pedigree.  If they keep hiring for specific titles and use old school boxes to define candidates, they’ll never evolve.
5. Better Tools To Measure Social Media – Vitrue is cool.  Twist is nice.  Google Trends is ok.  But, there just isn’t a real legitimate tool to measure social media impact easily.  We have great tools like Quantcast and Compete, to measure web demographics and traffic, but we’re still lacking in the social media measurement department.  You’d think this is one of the big things Google would be working on.
6. Google Chrome For The MAC and Flash Support for the iPhone. – Simple.  We have Chrome for the PC, but we don’t for the MAC.  Should be a no brainer.  Not having Flash support on some level is ridiculous for a product that touts itself is giving the consumer the web in their pocket.  Tsk Tsk.
7. An Alex Cross TV Series – James Patterson’s books are great.  The two movies based on the Alex Cross books, Along Came A Spider and Kiss The Girls, were solid.  Given America’s love for cop dramas, this should be a no brainer.
8. Real Time Web Integration For Cars – I want my car to provide web access for use in the Heads Up Display (think traffic, directions, sports scores) and for my laptop to connect to.  This really should be easy, no?  We have satellite radio.  We have live/real time traffic updates, so why not go the extra mile and offer web access.
9. The TSA Become Consistent and Logical – Why do some airports make you take off your shoes and others don’t?  How come O’hare requires me to take off my belt, but MSP, doesn’t?  MSP doesn’t require me to show my boarding pass anymore when going through security, but JFK does.  Even though all items get x-rayed, passengers can’t take wrapped presents on a plane.  If this is how grocery shopping was, we’d change how we buy.  But, the TSA and the airline industry have us by the short ones.  We gotta fix this.
10. Serious Challenger To the iPhone – I don’t think the Google Android platform is the answer.  So long as Apple has a lock on the OS and the hardware, it’s going to be tough for someone to challenge them. But, it’s not impossible.

I’ve worked on car brands in the past. The build your own tool/section was always a heavily debated area of the site. Sure it needs to be functional, but it also needs to be sexy and sell you on the car. With the number of people using iPhones and other mobile devices you’d think car companies would start investing in their mobile presence. Audi has done a great job of reaching out to mobile users. Recently they launched two very cool, smart, and progressive features:

1. An iPhone formatted site.  The site even lets you build your own car on the iPhone and locate a dealer
2. An iPhone game that’s 100% free from the APP Store.  The game relies on the physics of the iPhone rather than the touch screen.

Stumbled upon this site last week and have been playing around with it since. Instead of returning text-based results, it serves up visuals to show you what’s relevant. The functionality for navigating the results is very similar to the album browsing feature on the iPod Touch/iPhone. Check it out.