Apple + Google + Microsoft + Yahoo = Fight!
January 25th, 2010 | by LaSean Smith
The NYT posted a ridiculous Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo comparison article over the weekend. I’m not even going to link back to that nonsense. The only thing it really communicates is that the big boys in consumer technology try everything. This is what happens when you have piles of money to play with. It’s a content-free article. Still, I’m sure it got plenty of page views. That’s frustrating. Even more frustrating is that Nick Bilton (the author of the NYT piece) would write this. The New York Times is planning on charging for content at some point in the future. They’re going to need add more value to get people to pay to read their words.
In the article there is a list of product categories on the y-axis and Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo on the x-axis. Then a dot was placed for each place where any of the companies had an offering. To make that eye chart useful it should show revenue (historical + trending would be nice) per dot. Then it should call out the (high/medium/low) strategic products that need to exist without a stand alone P&L. Additionally there should be a row that shows the remaining revenue for each company that the chart doesn’t cover (e.g. enterprise software revenue). Profitability per dot would be the cherry on top. That would be fascinating to read (especially with the trend data). All of that would take real work. I’m guessing even professional writers don’t have enough time to do that kind of analysis. I get that, but still feel gypped by this article. Now I want the info. Have you run across a more in-depth comprehensive analysis of these four companies from the product/revenue/profitability perspective. I’d love to give it a read. I’d even pay you for it if it’s accurate. How much? Not sure. My reservation price is probably around the cost of a text book – say $150. That brings up another topic. Is there a business opportunity for low-cost analyst reports for the masses? Something between a good feature magazine/newspaper article and a $5K analyst report? Something short and concise, but with powerful visuals that help me quickly understand the situation? You tell me.
Bottom Line: We have plenty of data in our life (too much in fact). Lists are abundant. Smart analysis is where the value lies – and where there’s value there is money to be made.
