Digital giants know consumer is in charge
Tech Talk
Here it is, the early days of 2008, and people are already speculating that this year will feature some big changes in the offering from industry heavyweights Google, Apple and Wikipedia.
The direction these organizations are taking is one of convergence - a repudiation of their previously computing-only focus with the goal of integrating their services into every aspect of your life.
Yet such a change would not be possible without these organizations taking the lead in marketing products to the all-important under-35 demographic. Their successes are important lessons for any company looking to figure out how to sell to a brand-savvy, irony-drenched younger crowd.
Take Apple, for example. The Cupertino, California-based computing giant released at last month's MacWorld Expo several new products that compliment a rising tide of "lifestyle" products. The most notable product, the MacBook Air, is a wireless-only device that works seamlessly with its new Time Capsule device - a wireless storage platform that backs up the hard drives of computers linked to it. Further, the company also relaunched its Apple TV product to make it work with wireless hardware more easily.
While Apple has been the darling of computer nerds for some time, these products are signalling a big change in the way Apple does business. Starting with its landmark product, the iPod, back in 2001, Apple has been gradually moving its core businesses away from the office into the family room. With digital lifestyles now an unavoidable aspect of everyday life, Apple is staking out its place in the family market in a very big way.
What makes Apple's product launches so newsworthy and exciting are not just the high-quality nature of Apple products - it's the fact Apple has effectively cornered the market on cool. The Mac logo has become synonymous with hipsters due to its outsider, rebel image in the face of monolithic Microsoft. This carefully constructed image, assisted through those funny and smart Mac vs. PC television commercials, has allowed Apple to dominate two of the most coveted markets in digital technology: fast-adopting young people and the creative class.
And it is not as though this trend is stopping anytime soon. There have been past rumours of Apple being interested in buying gaming giant Nintendo, as well as Apple integrating its hardware more tightly with one of the world's largest companies: Google.
The past year has also seen some big changes coming Google's way. Aside from the big purchase of online advertising giant DoubleClick last year, Google has been working to secure advertising time on old school media like terrestrial radio and cable television.
Yet the coming years are where things will get really interesting for Google. Google Knol is a Google-run version of a free encyclopedia similar to Wikipedia currently in beta mode with a public launch scheduled for this year.
The much-hyped gPhone, Google's answer to Apple's iPhone, is expected to debut for real sometime this year. The web search giant has been for some time buying acres upon acres of data server farms across the world, continually amping up its computing power for a yet-undetermined purpose. Some analysts have speculated that Google is preparing to eventually debut the so-called GoogleNet - a Google-run division of the Web that will compete directly with Internet Service Providers in the United States.
Even if none of these products come to fruition, the fact Google has captured the public's imagination so completely with its usefulness illustrates how the company wants to become completely integrated into our daily lives.
Finally, Wikipedia, under the stewardship of Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, is fast-becoming a second Google to most web users - a go-to reference book that is spawning many imitators online.
The non-profit company recently made overtures into the lucrative search market with the debut of its Wikia Search tool, as well as expanding its article offerings into more languages than ever before.
Still, while all of these shiny new tech toys are fun and useful, it's important to pose a question: why should we care?
For one, Apple, Google and Wikipedia are demonstrating they are re-writing the rules of marketing overnight. These companies are thriving not just because they release quality products that have real utility in a jaded marketplace, but also because they understand one fundamental rule of the digital age: the audience is in control and there's no going back.
For anyone under the age of 35 used to having products geared toward them, these companies have tapped into an essential trait of this me-centred era: make a product that looks, feels and works great, but give the user latitude to make it their own experience at the same time. Unlike some other companies such as Sony - an organization that seems to make its products in a hermetically-sealed, audience-free environment - and even Microsoft, Apple, Google and Wikipedia are combining the best of both new and old school business rules: use word-of-mouth to your advantage, never tell the audience what they want, go viral to get results and think about each consumer as a unique entity.
It is these factors that are making Apple, Google and Wikipedia so popular and successful in our competitive digital world - are you listening, Microsoft?
