Microsoft Recovery Plan. Step 5. Win the Connected Car Market and Home Automation market

I am a little less enthusiastic about this series now that Microsoft has bought Nokia. I thought the Microsoft board might be consider a different path, but it now appears that they are committed to a similar course as years past. That having been said, my Dad said "Start what you finish", so here is the next step in my plan to remake Microsoft.

There are two places where computing still sucks. The Car and the Home.

First, the Car market:

There are about 60M cars sold per year Worldwide. There are just over 1B automobiles on the roads today.  The auto industry has made tremendous strides to automate vehicle operations, but the car is still a standalone system that must be connected to the internet and the outside world.

There is a tremendous opportunity to partner with the car companies to develop a connected car that links applications to the telematics of the car to provide a better, safer car that is continuously connected to the internet.

Google has some real big assets here. They have the world’s premier mapping system and are the clear technology leaders in autonomous cars. But it is not clear how or if Google with partner with existing car companies to bring this technology to the market.

Here is what Microsoft can do:

  

• The Ford Sync partnership is a good start and can be built on to broaden the functionality and number of partnerships.
•  I  am not exactly sure what rights to the Navtech maps product were acquired in the Nokia  transaction, but hopefully Microsoft  has broad rights to use the product in cars..
• The former Navtech mapping data and applcication can be used to work with automobile companies to develop geo-aware mobile apps that will be the center of the car of the future. The car manufacturer’s will open up their telematics systems to application development and Microsoft can build applications
• This business is gong to be a hybrid cloud system. The car will not be able to 100% connected to the internet because of wireless limitation, so on board systems will be necessary. Microsoft is good at these hybrid systems and this environment plays to their strengths.
• Lastly, the connected car will need lots of approvals from Government agencies who are concerned that too much technology will distract the driver and compromise safety. Microsoft knows how to work with governments now and with the car companies they can make a connected car that is approved by the regulators. 

There is a lot of work to do here. But car companies need a big technology partner to move their products to the next level. Microsoft could be that partner.

On the Home Front, the opportunity is even bigger

At every tech conference in the past 20 years, some speaker talks about how the Internet connected refrigerator will know when your milk is empty and will then order it for you, If I hear it one more time, I will stick a fork in my eye. We have been talking about home automation for decades. In fact, I think I went to some home of the future display at Disneyworld that was created in the 60’s with GE. But lets face it we are not close to this. Not evenly remotely close.

But we can be. The home’s we live are the least “smart” of all environments . Someone needs to fix this. Microsoft could win this. They need to start winning new categories not playing catch up on ones that you have already lost.

I also think that Microsoft software and services background works well here. Unless we get 1GB Fiber to all homes soon, the home automation market is going to need software and maybe a server in the home. Microsoft could do that and then connect it to its cloud. There are three areas that it would make sense to focus on:

• The entertainment space. You already have Xbox and some great gesture technology. Apple and Google TV are very mediocre. There is still room for a  great device that does entertainment for all in the home. Watch out for Youtube though. It’s Google’s best weapon here. User generated and third party content are a powerful combination. I would not let Netflix stay independent if I were you.
• The Connected appliances – Refrigerator, Stoves, Washer, Dryer  are all possible. But I would start with heating/cooling and lighting. Very valuable to consumers and it would have a huge “green” impact.
•  Home Security. Seriously, I still have keys that let me in my house that do not have a computer chip in them. I spend money for third parties to monitor my house and the video system is standalone and not integrated. Please someone fix this!!

So, don’t despair, you lost the mobile operating system war, but there are lots more categories to re-invent.