Consumers are not kind to companies who fail to innovate fast and continuously. History is replete with examples where giants which failed to keep pace with changing technology lost market share to their newer and much smaller rivals.
While some have gone bankrupt, others are struggling to regain their lost market share and industry stature. More are still trying hard to turn a profit despite millions of end users. Some others are profitable, but their mindshare and marketshare has disappeared.
Here are 10 tech companies that are struggling to reinvent themselves.
Nokia
Nokia, once the biggest mobile phone maker in the world, has been dumped by consumers, who have migrated to platforms like Apple's iOS and Google's Android. The only solace for the company is that it is still thriving in the low-cost feature phone market.
The Finnish mobile phone manufacturer opted not to go with Android and stuck with its home-grown Symbian mobile OS, which failed miserably. Now the company has chosen Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, and phones working on the operating system have been appreciated but this has not translated into sales.
Facebook
Everything seems rosy from the outside when it comes to Facebook. A $100 billion IPO, 1 billion users, next only to Google when it came to popularity on the internet, these factors make the company look like a success story. However, scratch below the surface and you will find that the world's biggest social network is facing huge problems.
Facebook has been unable to solve the mobile question, which is bogging it down as it has more users accessing the services via mobile devices than PCs. It has also been criticised by privacy advocates for mining data in order to run targeted advertisements.
The company's revenue is also rising, but not in line with the increase in number of users, which again points towards a weak business model. Companies that invest in Facebook are reportedly not earning the sum back and General Motors, one of the biggest car makers in the world, has been quite vocal about it.
Amidst all this, the value of Facebook's stock has plunged since the IPO and its COO and other top execs and shareholders have offloaded thousands of shares since the lock-up period ended.
Research In Motion
The situation for the maker of BlackBerry smartphones has also taken a turn for the worse due to the advent of iPhones and Android devices. The company has lost millions of users across the world and stock has reached new lows time and again.
However, there is some glimmer of hope for Research in Motion, as initial response to its yet-to-be-unveiled BB10 operating system has been positive and BBM still remains one of the best mobile messengers.
Twitter
Like Facebook, Twitter has been an internet phenomenon and has over 140 million users. Some may find it surprising to see Twitter in our list due to humongous traffic that it generates, but just like Facebook, it has been under pressure to make money without driving away customers or violating privacy.
The company has begun serving paid tweets on computers as well as mobile devices. Twitter had earlier announced it would offer a self-serve advertising system to small enterprises. Such initiatives have gained enthusiasm among big companies but are yet to translate into big bucks for the company. Moreover, as a free service, it does not have the option to earn money from subscriptions.
In the mean time, Twitter also broke away from LinkedIn and pulled the API from third-party developers, hamstringing them and making the experience worse for users as well as developers.
Yahoo
Though internet giant Yahoo has fared badly, it is still one of the biggest websites on the web, with approximately 700 million visitors per month. The company has no presence on mobile, has outsourced its searched to Microsoft's Bing and has gone through several CEOs over the last few years.
The instability has seemingly shaken investor confidence, as Google has done well during the same time, while Yahoo has lagged far behind. The shareholders have rested the company's problems on the shoulders of new CEO and ex-Google employee Marissa Mayer, who has spoken on partnerships and acquisitions rather than new products and services.
Sony
Sony had been at the forefront of technology industry for long but has lost its sheen and, it seems, the game plan. The company posted a loss in the seventh consecutive quarter in the earnings call it announced for the July-September quarter.
Once the poster child of Japan's innovative streak, Sony has been faring badly due to poor sales of computers, DVDs, cameras, televisions and smartphones. Its famed Walkman series of music players, once the coolest gadget to have, is already dead and buried by Apple iPod. Even its movie business, Sony Pictures, is not doing well. The company this year also announced it will cut 10,000 jobs as part of its attempt at restructuring.
The only bright spot for the company seems to be its video games division, even though it is unable to recreate the success of Play Station 2, the best selling video game console ever.
Infosys
Infosys, the bellwether of Indian IT sector for long, is also going through a rough patch currently. The company failed to give guidance during the earnings call in August and it was pipped by Cognizant as the second biggest IT company of India as per revenues. Infosys' stock is down as well, but it did let go of its conservative attitude to shell out $350 million to buy Lodestone, which will enhance its consultancy prowess.
Kodak
Kodak is the pioneering company when it comes to camera and imaging, but has already filed for bankruptcy and is selling patents. The company created the revolutionary film roll that was used by movie production houses as well as families. It came up with the Brownie Camera, which cost $1, in 1900 and made photography available at mass scale. The company held 80% of the photography market in the 1970s in the US.
However, Kodak's fortunes plummeted with the advent of the digital camera. Though it was the first company to make the digital camera, it chose not to make it public since it would have affected its profitable film roll business. When Kodak's digital cameras hit the market, they were sold at a loss, but this time there was no surrounding ecosystem to support a different business model. This led to a declining market position and, now, bankruptcy.
Motorola Mobility
Motorola, which made the first mobile phone in the world, has been going through a rough patch since its original Razr series became outdated. It was followed up by the Rokr, L and U series, which did not receive the adulation that the Razr got.
Things took a turn for the worse for the company, as for its rivals, when Apple launched the iPhone. Later, the company took up Android operating system and launched devices whose success rates were modest at best.
In 2011, Motorola sold off the mobile phone division to internet giant Google, which eyed its vast patent portfolio. The newly formed Motorola Mobility under Google has announced job cuts, new product lines and closing of offices in unprofitable markets, like Asia, but still sinks its parent company in loss.
Microsoft
World's biggest software maker Microsoft has been going through a rough patch on several fronts. Be it mobile software or internet, the company needs to get its game plan right. With global PC market facing increasing threat from the growing demand for tablets, the company's cash cow Windows OS is suffering as well.
Microsoft has been investing heavily in internet since past many years but with little returns as Internet Explorer is still derided for its poor performance and search engine Bing has been unable to wrest some market share from Google. The company's browser Internet Explorer (IE) too has seen its marketshare decline over the years. The new tongue-in-cheek ad campaign for IE, which says 'Internet Explorer sucks... less', can be termed a smart attempt to rebuild the IE brand.
On the software end, the company claims Windows 8 is off to a flying start but reviewers have said that it will confuse users initially and will take some getting used to. The worrying factor is that PC sales are down across the world and this will consequently hurt Microsoft, considering Windows OS powers almost ninety percent of the computers globally.
The company's recently-launched Surface tablet too has received a tepid response from buyers. The tablet has been criticised for the poorly developed software, though the hardware has been appreciated. Microsoft has recently changed its sales strategy for the tablet, in hopes of pushing sales.
Dell
Dell's illustrious days as one of the top computer makers seem to be over as the company has lost its position to Lenovo. As computer sales across the world decline, the company seems to be out of sorts with seemingly no concrete plan of revival.
Along with the slump in PC sales, Dell has also suffered on mobile front. The manufacturer's foray into smartphones was lacklustre and its phablet, the 5-inch Streak, generated poor sales. Recently, it has officially announced its departure from the smartphone market.
In the tablet arena too, the company did not make waves and does not boast of considerable sales. Dell is now counting on its new range of hybrid laptops running on Windows 8 to boost sales and revive its fortunes.
Hewlett Packard
Hewlett Packard, the company which made the calculator as well as inkjet and laser printers, has struggled to get back to its glory days over the past half decade. The company has had a tumultuous ride in all hardware fronts, including printers and computers, its two mainstays.
PC sales have declined across the world, which has deeply hurt the company's prospects of a strong revival. Moreover, Lenovo's rise as the biggest computer manufacturer by sales has made matters worse. In 2011, the company even announced it will stop making computers, but that idea was quashed later. HP has also failed to make a mark with its TouchPad series of tablets, which are the reason behind the decline of personal computers.
HP continues its lead in the total hardcopy peripherals market with 37.3 per cent share, however, the same is down from 42.9 per cent last year. The vendor's wireless segment has also seen a year-over-year decline of 16 per cent.
The company has also got poor returns from many of its biggest acquisitions over the recent years. Acquisitions like Palm and 3Par became victims of strategical blunders and tactical errors. The more recent 2011 acquisition of Autonomy saw the company take an $8.8 billion writedown down on a company it acquired for over $10 billion. In 2008, HP purchased EDS for $13.9 billion and later took an $8 billion write-down for that too.
