Google vs. Microsoft – Away game.

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Winning the away game is always the hardest.

• Google has responded to Microsoft making its Office apps freely available on Android by re-enforcing its branding and style inside its in house Office competitors.
• I suspect that this is just another step in Google’s long-term strategy to control and brand the experience on Android as much as it can.
• In consumer services Google is a leader but when it comes to productivity, I believe that Google is on the back foot.
• With its attractive pricing and by making certain elements of Office free, Microsoft has removed the single biggest incentive to choose anything else.
• The Office apps are the best available and now they are available on every platform at the same price as the alternatives.
• I suspect that this is why Google has moved to reinforce its brand and its material design user experience across all of the Digital Life and Digital Work assets that it owns.
• By creating a consistent look and feel across all of its assets, it can ensure that its users feel at home, making it much easier to generate loyalty.
• Loyalty to the ecosystem is critical because it is this that drives user preference and in turn pricing power and profitability for the ecosystem owner.
• Microsoft is now competing with its ecosystem on both iOS and Android but on the platforms of others its task is much harder.
• This is because Apple and Google control these platforms and are in a position to ensure that their offerings are better placed and deliver a superior user experience.
• This is why I think it is too early for Microsoft to back away from its own platform in mobile as it is here that it can best deliver its services to users.
• In Digital Work, Microsoft has the advantage even on other platforms as its offering is significantly better than anything else and works very well across every device.
• However in Digital Life, it is the laggard and it is as consumers that the ecosystem choice is primarily made.
• Hence, Microsoft must also delight users in Digital Life to be chosen as a fully-fledged ecosystem and doing this on Android or iOS is much more difficult than on its own platform.
• Users spend more time on mobile devices than any other in the ecosystem and this is why delighting them on this device is so important.
• Consequently, I think Google is moving to take control of Android and will effectively turn it into a proprietary OS like iOS or Windows.
• By taking control one can ensure a consistent, easy and fun to use experience for users with its Digital Life services front and centre.
• Google is still very far away from achieving this and hence there is still time for Microsoft to compete.
• Fortunately, the market is assuming that Microsoft fails to make any headway here meaning that there is plenty of upside should Microsoft finally get it right.
• Google still has upside but is not as interesting an investment proposition as Microsoft in the digital mobile ecosystem.