The brand new issue of the Economist (Volume 382, Number 8511, January 13th-19th 2007) has an interesting article on Apple titled Drop the Computer reviewing the recent Macworld held in San Francisco. The piece mention the change in the company's name, something I've noted passed quite understated behind all the iPhone hype (Apple drops the Computer, from its name that is).

I'm repeating myself, but I feel quite sad for all those über-Apple geeks that spent nights awake following forum threads defending their different computer machine. Alas, it looks all the supposed different (superior) power has already faded away (if ever was there). The new machine Intel-based were just a hint.

Mr. Steve Jobs is described on this Economist piece as so excited the night before the show, that he couldn't sleep. This was because of the presentation of the iPhone.

Indeed, Apple's laptop and desktop computers, which are selling briskly, were hardly mentioned.

Is it true that the iPhone has a computer in it, just as the brand new AppleTV (a hardware system syncronizing computers with tv sets) has it also. The fact is the focus now isn't on alternative and rich kids, and fancy art directors; the focus is everybody's pocket, the focus is everybody's living rooms.

Who's after your living room? The list

The fact is the goal is to conquer your living room. Contendants have already entered the field, their weapons are out, or about to be deployed. Controlling the living room is the evolution of what the kids room was from the mid-eighties onward, possibly because the kids have grown up and now are in control of the heart of every house (forget about the kitchen, that kind of society no longer exist in western markets): the living room.

So who's really engaged in this war? My opinion is the following are the more evidently names involved:

• Apple
• Microsoft
• Nintendo
• Sony

The above mentioned names have already made that kind of exlicit (or implicit) statement. If their goal is shared, strategies differ quite a bit.

Aiming at the living room: strategies & tactics

What the strategies deployed to get the control of the living room, what tactics thrown in the middle? Different approaches have been taken, brand new tactics have just been deployed, some of them already are repeating or continuing a quite experienced campaign (sometimes the re-make of a previously failed one).

Apple

It started aiming at the alternative computer (active) user, then at the creative professionals, the trend setter and the art/fashion movers. It then widened the target, reaching world mass hits — selling what may be thought of the walkman of the post-modern smart guy. And in marketing terms, everybody should be the next-door smart guy.

From the indoor (the Macintosh computer), to the outdoor of your pockets (the iPod), then consolidating its pocket presence (the iPhone) while attacking, almost shyly, the living room with an undestated ranger as the AppleTV is.

Microsoft

It started indoor (the kids room) and outdoor (your office desk) at the same time; it lost some campaigns not understanding early trends as the internet was, and loosing interest in early loves (video games); definitely missing the mp3 revolution kick off. Now is rebooting some old projects (the Media Center), embarking on new missions (the Zune) and following (again, in my humble opinion) an insane video game rush with the wrong attitude and approach (Xbox, Xbox 360).

Nintendo

Possibly the last evidently emerged, its job was totaly undercover and just recently (with the Wii) its goal has been declared. It could even been without any purpose (it could be not so umbelievable as it sounds). Always on the gamer side, wrong ways taken and failed business models choosen were very close to kill the name. A card game for kids (the Pokemons) saved the whole business. Then came the Gameboy, an iPod ante litteram, that consolidated the brand as well as opening the multimedia way for many others.

Now there's the Wii; and it's just about video games, is it?

Sony

They came first. They came fully armed, and established some apparently invincible position. Outdoor: the Walkman, the car stereo, the Mini Disc, PSP, mobiles. Indoor: stereo, Vaio computers, TV sets, VCR, DVD recorders, PlayStation. Content: movies, music, TV channels. Defdend the position is harder than attacking one. If you take yourself too seriously in an entertainment scenario, if you stick to mass-market hardware and everybody-should-be-content-but-no-risks-should-be-taken approaches this is even more true.

The time's running out

The hits scored now are the ones that will last for the very next cycle before the next level information revolution. Until another revolution the same importance of the internet will come, the winner of the moves of today will stay on top. Bets, as always, are open.