Why Google and Apple are thriving while Nokia, Microsoft and Sony suffer?

As a marketer I can say that Google’s advantage during the crisis is their “one to one” targeted marketing. By profiling most of us, Google can definitely offer advertisers something that traditional media cannot, and what is most important, at a very competitive price and business model in which an advertiser only pays when the campaign is successful. (adwords)

Marketing budgets around the world are being reduced in every industry as companies implement cost savings plans, however, nowadays, a company cannot stop getting its message across, and since mass media is still very expensive, Google provides an excellent option to budget constrained marketers worldwide.

With the introduction of services as Google’s Docs, Apps, Maps, Calendar….and so on, Google is getting more and more attention in their pages, providing Google with more channels from which to advertise as well as expanding the potential target market. 

Adsense also provides what seems to be a “Crisis Proof” Business Model, opening a blog, webpage or even launching an internet based company is easier every day, and people all over the world are looking for more revenues streams, and if I can build an interesting enough page and get some money from Google by letting them advertise…Hey, Why not? I don’t care if Google is also making money of it…

As far as Apple is concerned, it has already been 25 years since their world famous 1984 commercial ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8 ), and what surprises me the most is that they have been able to maintain their brand personality, always positioning themselves as innovative and away from the mainstream. The fact that they enjoy less than 10% market share in the OS industry (http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/12/01/mac-internet-share-hits-record-882-windows-drops-below-90/) proves that having a hip brand personality is not enough to be number one, but what Apple has done properly is leverage its Brand Equity and of course their innovation, to introduce new very successful products and services (iPod, iPhone, iTunes) to reach a more massive market.

Besides providing Apple with more Revenue Streams it also allows them to get into consumers that were unreachable with just offering a Mac, allowing Apple to successfully use “Product Bundling” to reach new generations. An example of this is the fact that if you are a student, you get a free iPod Touch if you buy a Mac, making it a very attractive deal for students that have to buy a laptop for school anyway and of course would love a free iPod Touch not to mention that the student will now be a member of the hip Apple community.

A proof of the success of this, is the fact that 60% of the freshmen class at Brandeis University in MA, USA took a Mac to school, (http://www.palluxo.com/2008/09/02/brandeis-university-40-percent-students-use-mac-computers/) of course “forcing” the school to use Mac friendly applications, hence lowering the “barriers of entry” of getting a Mac….creating a virtuous circle for Steve Job’s company.

One last very important fact in the current success of Apple…is of course Vista, the failure of Microsoft latest OS also contributes to Apple’s success. Why would you buy a Vista computer if you can buy a Mac (which actually works and it looks cool) and get a free iPod on top? Maybe Microsoft should start giving away iPods with their Vista computers; I don’t think that getting a free Zune will help much…

As far as Nokia and Sony (Computers and Mobile Divisions) goes, I believe they have failed in creating synergies among their different products, I can get a Sony-Ericsson mobile and I don’t get any benefit if I buy a Vaio. More importantly they have failed to turn their mobile devices into something more than just a mobile, an iPhone for example is a mobile, a PDA, an MP3 player, a browsing device and more and more a gaming device. While a Nokia is still a mobile, and in face of crisis, people will take longer to update their mobile, therefore reducing profits for the mobile manufacturer giant.