14 DAY TRIAL // Surf's up for Microsoft, as the software giant needs to at least replicate the performance of rivals Google and Apple in terms of navigating the "coolness" wave. However, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer revealed that it is not actually a case of what company is cooler at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 in Houston, Texas, on July 9, 2008. Ballmer's perspective is that Microsoft will not back down from any sort of competition.
"Bring it on, I say. This is not an unknown there would be people who talk about the topic in the question all the time," he stated disputing the fact that either Google or Apple are cooler than Microsoft. However, Ballmer did admit that both rival companies at this point in time are "more newsworthy" compared to the software giant.
Ballmer pointed out that there is a simple recipe for Microsoft to get back the cool factor as far as the public perception goes. "We're going to have to surprise people," he commented. In this sense, Ballmer underlined the fact that the newsworthiness of Google and Apple is just a passing phase, and that Microsoft cannot rely on just the novelty aspect of the two companies. "If we're successful, in and out, every day, all the time for the next 10, 20, 30 years, we're not going to make it on, hey they're brand new, we've never seen them before," he added.
Ballmer continues to bet big on Windows Mobile powered mobile phones versus the iPhone and on Windows PCs vs. Mac OS X. He stressed that the evolution of Windows Vista, Windows Mobile and Live Search will keep Microsoft newsworthy. But in the end, it will all come down to the company's ability to deliver products that will surprise consumers.
"So what we need to do is have products that surprise people, that delight people, and particularly on the consumer side. (...) We're surprising them, the products are good, we haven't surprised people quite as much as we need to, to surf the cool wave."
However, one thing that Microsoft absolutely needs to do is to build a new perspective of itself, one capable of demolishing the mask and perception delivered by rivals such as Apple. The Redmond company is already cooking a marketing campaign designed to slap Apple back in the face for its Get a Mac ads.
"We've got a pretty noisy competitor out there. You know it, I know it. It's had an impact, been a source of frustration for you, but today, that line, we're going to start to challenge. We're going to get our story back out into the marketplace. Because we know the quiet majority of the millions and millions and millions of Windows Vista users out there, they're having a pretty good experience. They've told us they're pretty darn favorable with the product. And they don't quite understand what all the fuss is about," revealed Brad Brooks, corporate vice president, Windows Consumer Product Marketing.