Brands Battle For My Allegiance
Friends have heard me joke more than once that if Google and Apple merged I'd then only have one master.
Yesterday as I watched the new Xbox One be unveiled, I began to think more about the allegiances I have to certain technology companies and how some of those are starting to shift. Microsoft certainly wants to own my living room and I think I'm ok with that.
Looking at the current companies who power my world they look like this.
Apple - I love my iPhone, iPad and Macbook Air. I can't see this changing anytime soon. While it may not be the cheapest place, I do still buy all my music and buy it through iTunes. The only place I'm even tempted is on the phone as the power of Google Now makes an Android phone more attractive than ever. I've owned an AppleTV as long as they have existed, but the moves by Microsoft could make me ditch it.
Google - My work is done in their world. Chrome is the browser I use. I write, email and manager my calendar in their tools. Drive is helpful, but it hasn't fully pulled me away from Dropbox yet, but I wonder how long that will remain to be true?
Amazon - They own my library and the majority of my shopping. As a member of Amazon Prime, shipping is always fast, so unless I need something immediately I tend to order it through Amazon. As an avid reader I'm constantly buying books through them. Less and less of the printed variety and more of the eBook flavor.
Yahoo - As a photographer my photos have always found a home on Flickr. But, recent moves and comments have left me pondering if it is time to move. My portfolio lives on 500px already and there are a lot of reasons to migrate my library of photos over to Google even if there isn't an easy way to do this on the scale I'd need. Plus, if I was a betting man I'm not sure how many more years this company exists without being bought by someone else.
Nike - A year ago I wouldn't have guessed they would be included in this list. Yet, over the course of the last year my wife and I have committed to their platform for fitness. We use their apps, have their Kinect training and wear FuelBands every day. I look forward to them combining some of these in the future and taking Nike+ to a whole new level.
Adobe - I migrated from Aperture to Lightroom last year and have never looked back. Photoshop has been installed on almost every computer I've owned since it was created. I can't see migrating away from either of these anytime soon.
Microsoft - While we have all three major gaming consoles in our house, our Xbox is where we play our games and watch our NetFlix movies. That is all Microsoft is to me right now, but by the end of the year will that evolve into something more? Only time will tell, but I've never been as excited about Microsoft as I was yesterday.
Thinking more about this I realize while I have cameras I love from multiple manufacturers, I'm not sure if I have any special allegiance to any one at the moment. I host my videos on multiple platforms. I create content with a variety of tools. Cars, clothes and appliances are all up for grabs as well. Lots of disruption and transformation going on out there, so who knows.
A year from now it'll be fun to look back and see how much of this has changed (or merged).
Only time will tell.
