Microsoft for years have dominated world technology, to be fair it has rested on its laurels for the past few years as smaller and more innovative companies explored new ideas and advances. The market for computing needs changed rapidly with the introduction of smartphones and now iPads and similar tablets and yet Microsoft didn’t seem to take notice. It’s now no longer considered the dominant force that it once was.
Google, famous for it’s search engine introduced their own browser a couple of years ago called Chrome and then released an open source operating system known as Android. Android is lightweight and ideal for tablets, smartphones and other state of the art gadgets. This has encouraged an army of developers to produce various apps and has put Android and Google in a direct head to head with Apple.
I had wondered what Microsoft were going to do if anything. Surely they couldn’t just keep producing dinosaur pieces of software and charging silly money for them? Well it appears that the powers that be have had similar thoughts. You see the way forward it seems is to provide “free” software and search platforms and then make money from pay per click and hardware that is bundled pre loaded. Look at the gaggle of Android phones available today. They bundle with Google products forcing their users to search using Google and thus ensuring that these users click on paid for advertising which increases Googles revenue. This is what makes Google worth so much money as a company.
Looking at Microsoft activity in 2011 you can bet your bottom dollar that 2012 will see Microsoft flex its corporate muscles once more and hit back at Android and Apple. Its seems Microsoft have swallowed the jagged little pill that is “you can no longer charge silly money for bits of software” Instead Microsoft is undergoing an enormous change and a complete shift in focus on how it will generate its future revenue. Microsoft has been making associations with other companies, there have been mergers, takeovers and various other deals done and the fat old Corporation has been slowly manoeuvring into position before launching its attack.
Expect to see some pretty impressive Microsoft hardware launched this year bundled with an all new operating system and most importantly Microsofts search engine “Bing”.
Bing increased its share of the search market considerably in 2011 after the Google Panda updates frustrated some of Googles regular users. Have you tried Bing? Its rather good, it needs a few tweaks as I daresay it will continue to get but as a Google alternative it is rather good.
In summary then, Don’t keep ignoring Bing. I predict that by next Christmas there will be some serious iPad and iPhone alternatives on the market from Microsoft all of which will be bundled with Bing as standard. Start to aim your websites SEO not only at Google but also Bing and make sure you’re ready for the revolution.
