The 'Gang of Four' and Should Microsoft Be In It?

It's an interesting couple of weeks for the tech world.  D9 this week, E3 and WWDC next week.  Things got kicked off with D9 and Eric Schmidt of Google discussing what he calls the "Gang of Four", a group of four companies, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google who are collectively worth about half a trillion US dollars and are leading the consumer technology revolution.  However, one company was notably left out of the group.

"Microsoft is not driving the consumer revolution in the minds of the consumers."

Schmidt was immediatly questioned as to why he left Microsoft out of that group, given the success of the Xbox platform only to reply that the Xbox doesn't count.

“it’s not a platform at the computational level."

I hate to be the one defending Microsoft here, but I beg to differ.  What consumer is worrying about the "computational level"?  Consumers want to consume, and they are consuming content on the Xbox 360 at exceptionally high levels.  With consumers discovering that the Wii is just a gimmick and with Sony seriously dropping the ball recently (to the point where now even my parents will never again put a credit card near them again), Microsoft has pretty much won the war of the living room, even if it was with the help of external services like Netflix.  Perhaps Eric Schmidt should be checking the sales figures of Google TV and comparing it to the sales figures of the Xbox 360, a product which is now over 5 years old, and get a feel for what might actually be in the minds of consumers.

John Gruber is also quick to dismiss Microsoft, saying they don't have a consumer hit on their hands like that of the iPad, when in fact, Mircosoft has one that is growing faster.

Now, it of course remains to be seen whether or not Kinect will become another Wii-like gimmick or whether or not Chrome OS will eat into the dominance of Microsoft's core Windows/Office business.   It does however seem sensible for us to wait at least until the end of E3 before dismissing Microsoft's future.

Let's also not forget that the places of the other members of the gang are anything but locked in.  Facebook, who are probably the most deserving member (and part owned by Microsoft), now has the ear of over half a billion people yet seems to have little imagination as to what to actually do with so much power.  Amazon, although highly influential in the US, has a fairly limited presence outside of the US where Apple now sees over 50% of its revenue being generated from.  Microsoft on the other hand is investing a lot more in international markets, adding support for IPTV via Foxtel in Australia and Sky in the UK as well as it's own Zune service.

Apple itself has a lot to prove at it's own developers conference next week with the release of iOS5 and its new cloud service.  So far it has shown reluctance to invest any of its huge cash reserves on building it's software teams which are being spread increasingly thin as the company expands it's two major platforms.  As a result of this lack of investment, many simple features remain missing from the iPhone almost four years after release in areas where Apple refuses to let third party developers compete.   Even the iPad is missing basic features that would require little extra investment.  If Apple really wants to keep it's profitable niche in the market, it can't sit on it's laurels.

So, if this was like fantasy football, who would you like in your 'Gang of Four'?