A Free-Reprint Article Written by: Jennifer Robinson
Article Title:
Xerox Follow Apple on the Comeback Trail
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Article Description:
In many ways the companies share similar fortunes. Apple
(founded by Steve Jobs, Stephen Wozniak, Ronald Wayne)
produced the first successful personal computer with a
graphical operating system. Xerox (founded by Chester
Carlson, Joseph C Wilson) were the inventors of Xerography
(later called the photocopier).
Additional Article Information:
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1238 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line
Distribution Date and Time: 2010-07-27 15:30:00
Written By: Jennifer Robinson
Copyright: 2010
Contact Email: mailto:info@onlineconnect.co.uk
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Xerox Follow Apple on the Comeback Trail
Copyright (c) 2010 Jennifer Robinson
Online Connect UK
http://www.onlineconnect.co.uk/
Since the turn around in Apple's fortunes investors look on to
see the next big thing. "Xerox, one of the biggest brand names
in the world, have got it right in their market and the rest are
playing catch up" say OnlineConnect.co.uk. In many ways the
companies share similar fortunes. Apple (founded by Steve Jobs,
Stephen Wozniak, Ronald Wayne) produced the first successful
personal computer with a graphical operating system. Xerox
(founded by Chester Carlson, Joseph C Wilson) were the inventors
of Xerography (later called the photocopier).
Both Companies however seemed to lose their way in the eighties.
In 1983 Apple recruited John Sculley, the marketing genius behind
Pepsi Cola, to work as CEO alongside Steve Jobs. It should have
been the dream team. But as Apple announced the arrival of the
Mackintosh, with a Ridley Scott commercial entitled 1984, an
internal power struggle was happening behind the scenes which
eventually saw Jobs forced out of the company he was one of the
founders of.
Xerox, seeing their core product under competition in the
seventies, started investing heavily in the computer industry.
Building a team of innovative programmers and inventors they
developed graphical operating systems, the computer mouse and
what could have been the first commercial personal computer
(except Xerox failed to realize the commercial value and didn't
market it). Xerox foresaw the development of the document and its
transition from paper to electronic data. However, while they
were investing in the future of documents, they had failed to
protect their core business and by the mid eighties Xerox were in
rapid decline with other manufacturers having caught up with
their technology in the photocopier market.
In 1979 Xerox threw opened there doors to the press and public
showcasing their unique products, amongst those attending was
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates."They just had no idea what they had"
Jobs was later quoted as saying. Xerox internally had connected
individual sites together using what they referred to as 'Inter
Network Routing' later abbreviated to 'Internet'.
John Scully carried huge weight with Apple's board, having been
behind the Cola wars marketing battle that had seen Pepsi catch
up the worlds biggest brand name Coca Cola. But some of Apple's
marketing alienated customers, such as the infamous Mackintosh
Lemmings advert. The Apple Mac, developed by Jeff Raskin and
Steve Jobs (before he left), became a success and the market
leader in desktop publishing and the media industry. Meanwhile
the Apple Lisa , which John Scully had removed Steve Jobs from,
sank without trace.
By the mid eighties Xerox and Apple had opposite strengths and
weaknesses. Whilst John Scully at Apple was a proven marketing
guru, Apple by the end of 1985 had lost both co-founders Stephen
Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Xerox meanwhile had one of the best
development teams in the world at that time in the computer
industry. They foresaw the rise of digital documents and
communication through the internet and were speculating about a
digital market where people advertised on search. But whilst
Xerox had the ideas they lacked the marketing expertise and
suffered in trying to make the transition from Xerox Machines to
IT in the eyes of the business user.
Ultimately both Apple and Xerox hit a brick wall in the eighties
when they tried to tackle the business market leader IBM. Whilst
many thought the battle for the business user would be about
hardware, one small software company were concentrating on the
operating system. Bill Gates Microsoft had none of the overheads
of manufacturers and was licensing its own version of UNIX and
later DOS to computer vendors. In 1981 Microsoft were contracted
by IBM to provide the operating system for the IBM Personal
Computer. As IBM PC clones came to the market Bill Gates and
Steve Ballmer successfully marketed MS-DOS to other
manufacturers. In 1985 Microsoft released a graphical version of
its MS-DOS operating system called Microsoft Windows for retail.
The product was a massive success and became the most widely used
operating system in the world. Microsoft went on to become the
dominant operating system in business, networking and pc in
successive versions of Windows and Microsoft Office. Free from
the expensive costs of manufacture Bill Gates's Microsoft saw
the potential of licensing the operating system itself.
Apple and Xerox continued down different paths in the 80's and
early 90's. Seeing there core product sales falling Xerox began
to reinvest in photocopiers and printers and digital
multifunction copiers that combined scanners and printers. In
response to Canon's CLC technology Xerox invested heavily in
developing Color Copiers. Apple development was lead by marketing
and too many products, too high manufacturing costs and the lack
of technical leadership saw Apple release a series of
unsuccessful products. Steve Jobs went on to create Pixar and
NeXT. It was the purchase of NeXT primarily for its operating
system that brought Steve Jobs back to Apple in late 1996. By
July 1997 Jobs was running Apple again ousting Gil Amelio. Gil
Amelio went on to form several companies with Apple co-founder
Steve Wozniak. In 1997 Apple started retailing direct on the
internet and introduced a new build to order system following in
Dells success. Michael Dell commented at the time when asked what
would he do with Apple "I'd shut it down and give the money
back to the shareholders". Nine Years later when Apple value
rose above 72 billion outstripping Dells share price Steve Jobs
had the last laugh circulating an email that read, "it turned
out that Michael Dell wasn't perfect at predicting the future".
In 1997 Steve Jobs announced collaboration with Microsoft to
release Microsoft Office for Apple Mac and Microsoft purchased
150 million in non voting stock of Apple. Microsoft dominance of
the operating system market now being so strong, that perhaps it
was in their interest to keep a competitor afloat, especially
with antitrust charges surrounding Microsoft at the time. 1998
saw Apple focus on a return to profitability and the launch of
the hugely successful iMac. Apple's comeback continued under
Jobs with retail outlets opening and has seen the brand branch
out with huge success into iPhones and iPods. In an incredible
comeback Apple brought in some of the best people in Silicon
Valley to their board of directors including Eric Schmidt of
Google.
Xerox had to wait until 2001 for there "Jobs" in the form of
Anne Mulcahy who had been with the company for many years. Dubbed
the accidental ceo it was Mulcahy who stuck by Xerox R and D
whilst at the same time returning the company to profitability.
Recognizing the huge value in their brand Mulcahy stemmed the
flow of customer leakage by improvements in customer service and
later improvements in technology. Reinventing the Xerox logo in
the process to appeal to a modern internet audience, Anne Mulcahy
focused the company on innovation and customer interaction. Xerox
with its strength in R and D now fully supported started to
combine their computer expertise with their hardware digital
technology. The vision they showed so many years ago in the
computer industry is finally combining with their core products
following "the document" in all formats, be that Electronic,
Internet, Email or Print. Today Xerox, now headed by Ursula
Burns, are one of the leading Document Management providers in
the world and with excellent hardware and leading technology such
as solid ink printing Xerox seem uniquely positioned to become
market leader again.
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Jennifer Robinson writes for OnlineConnect.co.uk an office
equipment and document management system provider that
specialise in the sale and rental of photocopier machines.
Visit there website http://www.onlineconnect.co.uk/
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