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With the impending mass release of Vista, the Financial Times explored Microsoft's next big challenge with chief executive Steve Ballmer.

He underlined the importance of internet search where, according to the latest US figures from Nielsen/NetRatings, Microsoft’s market share continues to fall. It has about 8 per cent of US searches compared with Google’s 51 per cent. Sketching out on paper where Microsoft would focus after Vista, the first three products in the online category were: search, search and search.

Microsoft also lags far behind Google in building up a powerful network of advertisers to feed the internet traffic generated by its search engine. Microsoft has so far failed to narrow the gap through investment in its own search technology and advertising system. Mr Ballmer did not rule out acquisitions to bolster its position. “There may be blockbuster [deals], but the number one thing for us is our own development and let’s call them technology acquisitions.”

Ballmer's most telling comment may be: “Frankly, if you are market leader, it is a little harder to break out of your pattern than if you are not the market leader.”

Posted by Rob at 4:58 PM | Permalink

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve had the opportunity to attend an industry related workshop or conference. To be fair, I did have the brief opportunity to cruise the Macworld floor the latter half of the day where Mr. Jobs’ introduced the iPhone. However, I mostly just explored the exhibit hall.

Last Friday, I stumbled upon Adaptive Path’s upcoming Managing Experience (MX) workshop that will be taking place in San Francisco on February 12-13th. The program sounded very intriguing as there are themes very much in line with the program I manage at my current job. As of Friday, only ten spots were available and I must have barely made it when I registered today because the website is currently showing this workshop as being sold out. There’s a second version of the workshop that will be taking place in Washington, D.C..

After the event, I’ll share my notes and thoughts on how the program went. There are several interesting sessions including one by Irene Au, Director of User Experience at Google, and “Innovation Through Design Thinking” by Tim Brown of IDEO.

Posted by Rob at 12:57 PM | Permalink

There are no two ways about it: Google has created a couple of tools that has had a major impact on the way I collect, sort and read information. One is the ability to create custom RSS feeds using Google Blog Search and the other is Google Reader which allows you to subscribe to them. This turns out to be a very effective way to monitor particular topics or conversations that I'm interested in.

For example, I'm particularly interested in the topic of "design thinking" and I've had the pleasure of discovering some brilliant posts on the subject through my custom feed (if you're interested, you can also subscribe to the same feed). Just recently I discovered a terrific post by Luke Wroblewski where he provides notes he took at a talk given by Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO. Though high-level, it's well worth a read.

If you're looking to go deeper, I'm just wrapping up The Ten Faces of Innovation by Thomas Kelley which dives into specific examples, across a wide array of industries, of how companies large and small are applying design techniques to innovative their products and services. It's a very inspiring read.

By the way, in the event that you're interested in the photo above, I did not take it myself. I discovered and purchased it on iStockPhoto, far and away the best stock photo site, and was just looking for a way to incorporate it into my blog. <grin>

Posted by Rob at 10:28 PM | Permalink

Slashdot referenced an interview posted to YouTube in which Robert Kahn, co-inventor of TCP/IP, was asked about his position on network neutrality. Kahn warns against net neutrality legislation because it could hinder experimentation and innovation. I've yet to hear a compelling case to counter Kahn's opinion which I also share. We're not alone in this opinion either.

According to the Save the Internet website, 1.49 million people have also contributed their names to a petition to counter the cable companies. That's only 500,000 from the organization's goal so I'd encourage you to learn more and get involved.

Posted by Rob at 5:06 PM | Permalink

Wow, the video on demand space just keeps heating up. How does one even keep up? With dozens of major movie, television, software, networking and mobile device companies all focused on making it even easier for users to access their favorite content, I can't help but wonder if all of these industries are investing more R&D dollars than the market is prepared to reward.

TechCrunch is reporting that Netflix is rolling out a fairly revolutionary new service -- both in terms of media distribution but also in terms of evolving their own innovative business model:

But now Netflix has fired back with a really excellent new service that could swing momentum back in their direction. This morning, a select number of Netflix’s 6 million subscribers will have access to a new Watch Now product that will stream television shows and movies to a Windows PC. The remaining members will be given access over the next six months. About 1,000 movies and tv shows will initially be available (including some hits - NBC’s “The Office” is included, for example). Studios contributing to Netflix’s new service include NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Lionsgate and New Line Cinema.The best part - it’s free.

If true, this is where the plot thickens:

Netflix is budgeting $40 million to cover licensing and overhead costs of the service over the next year, which will, by the way, wipe out most of their operating profit of $17 million or so per fiscal quarter. Unless of course this service results in millions of new subscribers.

As a fairly loyal Netflix customer, I'm looking forward to gaining access to this service. That being said, there's no doubt about: this is a *huge* gamble given the immediate overhead involved. If it fails miserably, is it possible that Netflix could fall to the wayside and be trampled by companies. TiVo is another company that earned incredible customer loyalty -- including from me. However, I haven't used by TiVo in a year since I invested in HD and just last week I upgraded to Comcast's HD DVR box for $5 more a month. While I miss the TiVo interface, the Comcast HD DVR has hit 80% of the primary use cases and I'm very happy with the product.

Posted by Rob at 10:25 AM | Permalink

Though not expected to be available until the 2007 holiday season, Microsoft made a surprise announcement at CES that the Xbox 360 will support IPTV. For additional information, see the Gamespot article which details some of the interesting new features including:

• Play games online while recording TV programs in the background
• Watch a TV program while chatting with someone from their friends list
• Browse channels using picture-in-picture
• Search program by actor or director (sounds like TiVo)

Posted by Rob at 8:52 PM | Permalink