Productivity and Platforms
Microsoft, Nadella noted, lives in a world of platform heterogeneity, reaffirming his intent to build everywhere.
Nadella wants to do his “best work, even on the iPad.*” This means that non-Windows-based experiences won’t be set at a feature or design deficit when compared to what the company builds for its own platforms. So if Microsoft intends to compete across platforms as other firms do, how can the company differentiate itself, as Nadella indicated was his goal?
“All strategy gets eaten by culture.”
In his view, the company has to build “bar-none [the] best productivity apps.” His point appears to be that Microsoft’s productivity assets are market-leading (correct) and thus one of its competitive advantages is leveraging the Office suite across the platforms that it doesn’t control over others. The success of Office for iPad is a good indication that Nadella, at least in the short-term, is correct.
Nadella is hitting the gas in this regard, with the launch of Office for Android approaching. But productivity is only part of Microsoft’s product line up, so could it provide a company-wide lift? In a sense yes. If Office 365 excels across platforms, it could bring more users into the larger Microsoft services orbit, aligning them more closely with its platforms. And platform momentum brings developers in from the cold.
The opposite is true as well, naturally: Wherever a modern technology company operates at a disadvantage, or fails to complete, it implicitly limits its platform buy-in from consumers and businesses.