Disclosure: I own shares of MSFT
Taking a lesson or two from Apple, Microsoft has been moving into gadgets, bundling its software with its own hardware. But the company has yet to produce a gadget that matches the allure of Apple products.
Bundling software with hardware is a high-risk strategy. Getting the bundle right takes a great deal of experimentation with flips and flops in the process, and a great deal of write-offs.
Microsoft, for instance, had several flips flops and write-offs with its smartphone gadgets. And it has yet to produce a smartphone, which has passed the market test.
But the company has managed to get its Surface tablet right, which is already profitable. And it seems to be on the right track for its Surface Book.
Nonetheless, there is still a key attribute missing from Microsoft's gadgets: the allure, which comes from the matching of engineering craftsmanship and art design, as has been the case with Apple gadgets.
At least that's my impression during a recent visit to a local Microsoft store, where I had the opportunity to experience the company's gadgets.
The Surface Book, for instance, looked impressive, but it doesn’t match MacBook Air’s sleek design. That’s why I won’t trade it for my MacBook Air.
Others have a different opinion.
“Beautiful, inventive and versatile (though a little confusing), Microsoft's first-ever laptop is already one of the best Windows notebooks ever crafted” writes Techradar’s Joe Osborne. “This is a slim, stark-looking 13-inch laptop -- the off-white design reminds me of the classic white MacBook, although this is metal, not polycarbonate plastic,” writes the CNET Magazine.
In the end, it is the market that will determine who is right and who is wrong.
But product allure is key to the market test. As marketing experts claim, it is the attribute that fuels WOM and buzz and helps products cross the tipping point--reaching "early majority" along the Rogers curve.
To be fair, Microsoft is a newcomer into the gadget industry. It is, therefore, unreasonable to expect it to beat industry leader and pioneer Apple.
Once again, only time and markets will tell.
