Google, Apple and Microsoft Struggle for Your Internet Experience

1. Executive Summary

Today the Internet, along with hardware devices and software applications, going through a major expansion. Mobile devices with advanced functionality and ubiquitous Internet access are rapidly gaining on traditional desktop computing as the most popular form of computing, changing the

Basis for competition throughout the industry.

Research firm Gartner predicts that by 2013, mobile phones will surpass PCs as the way most people access the Internet. Today, mobile devices account for 5 percent of all searches performed on the Internet; in 2016, they are expected to account for 23.5% of searches.

These mobile Internet devices are made possible by a growing cloud of computing capacity available to anyone with a smart phone and Internet connectivity. Who needs a desktop PC anymore when you can listen to music and watch videos 24/7? It’s no surprise, then, that today’s tech titans are so aggressively battling for control of this brave new mobile world.

2. Introduction

The case is all about the triangular fight between Google, Apple and Microsoft. They are in epic struggle to dominate our internet experience. What’s at stake is where you search, buy, play games, find your music and videos, and what device you will use to do all these things.

Apple, Google, and Microsoft already compete in an assortment of fields. Google has a huge edge in advertising, thanks to its dominance in Internet

Search. Microsoft’s offering, Bing, has grown to about 10 percent of the search market, and the rest essentially belongs to Google.

Apple is the leader in mobile software applications, thanks to the popularity of the App Store for its iPhones. Google and Microsoft have less popular app offerings on the Web.

Microsoft is still the leader in PC operating systems and desktop productivity software, but has failed miserably with smart phone hardware and software, mobile computing, cloud-based software apps, its Internet portal, and even its game machines and software. All contribute less than 5

Percent to Microsoft’s revenue (the rest comes from Windows, Office, and network software).

3. The Three-Tier Competition

The competition started when Google was to counter Microsoft’s attempts to enter the mobile market but Microsoft was largely unsuccessful. Even Google and Apple were friends each other