Microsoft Consumer Perceptions

The article start off by describing how Apple and Microsoft are positioned and perceived in the consumer electronics market. It talks about how Apple is synonymous with high quality and seamless user experience. While Microsoft on the other hand is perceived to be lower class product, even though when comparing both companies products from a technical hardware perspective Microsoft’s products have usually been sufficiently powerful to compete against Apple both in terms of quality and user experience. Then the article talks about Microsoft’s newest product the Surface Book, which is a premium laptop promising to offer top of the line specs. The Surface Book is being marketed as “The ultimate laptop” and the article describes in detail the …show more content…
Although the article does not mention this, Microsoft has been trying for the most part of this decade to position itself as a value brand by offering competitive products which were often more feature enriched at a slighter lower price than their competition. This is illustrated by their previous Surface Pro designs and marketing strategies, which was marketed to compete with the Apple iPad, although the Surface Pro offered better performance, more features and full PC experience on a tablet. however it was largely unsuccessful due to consumer perceptions. The Apple iPad was perceived as a higher quality product due to the higher price point and thus was more popular among consumers who didn’t have a technological background and preferred it’s easy of use. However Microsoft’s marketing strategy and design elements for the new Surface Book, suggests that Microsoft want’s to reposition itself as a high quality brand, while still offering best in class performance and features. This is supported by the fact that Microsoft is trying to implement unique design elements and features such as the new hinge system and detachable display, while still offering better performance however this time Microsoft is also trying to build a brand image and position itself as higher end product by pricing the Surface Book according. These concepts …show more content…
WCCF Tech is an online resource for those interested in new technology. It is specifically marketed towards the segment of moderately knowledgeable consumers who are often early adopter of technology and like to stay up to date with trends. This is a very significant detail because until recently Microsoft’s market positioning strategy was focused on this segment it targeted knowledgeable consumers who valued up to date features, best performance and value of money, while if you look at Apple’s market segmentation it does not try to attract the knowledgable consumers, its mainly focused on consumer who prefer easy to use and high quality products. These are two completely different market segments and both sides have publicly criticized each others product and marketing strategies, as those knowledgeable about technology are extremely unsatisfied by Apple’s product line and marketing strategies. This article make a significant connection in that it states Microsoft is becoming more like Apple and deploying similar marketing strategies. It would be interesting to see how this plays cause this could either be an extremely smart move or complete disaster, as Microsoft risking either completely alienating its base or completing repositioning itself to more mainstream base. In either situation this article severely undermines Microsoft marketing strategy as it show knowledgeable consumer that