Read an interesting article today on Yahoo, entitled " Tech Firms Venture Deeper into Telecom ". The full article can be located here.

Now I, nor anyone, should be surprised to hear that large software vendors are looking to encroach upon traditional business' like telecom. Microsoft, Apple and Ebay (as well as others) are in business to make money, and be profitable along that path. To some in the industry it is a stretch but, almost everyone understands the possibilities, and the benefits from attacking adjacent markets.

The first thought to my mind this morning as I read the article, whats wrong with the telco's? It amazes me how difficult it can be for large, mature players to change their business, and strive to achieve success outside of their core business. If Microsoft can honestly say, yes we are going to invest in tellecommunications, why are the big phone companies not doing the same? Here in Canada, it took Bell Canada quite a while to jump on the VOiP bandwagon, long after players like Skype had established products and many many users.

I'm starting to think this article should be called, "Blinded by billions". As it would seem to me, the larger and more profitable we become, the thicker our blinders become as to what the future holds.

For us in the PM community, this can serve as a reminder that, things have to change. If you don't eventually change, someone will for you. Large vendors in adjacent markets can decide one morning that they want a piece of your pie, and throw billions at it. Just another reason for us to be dilligent in understanding our markets needs, and constantly analyizing our competitive posture to watch out for potential displacement competition (Microsoft).

Sound unlikely? I remember my first job at Symantec, leading the WinFax tech. support group of about 30 techs here in Toronto. We had a full product team of managers, dev/qa, documentation, support etc etc. One day, Microsoft decided to include fax as part of windows and poof, there goes the rug from underneath us. Needless to say, Symantec made the decision to get out of that business, for obvious reasons. Before that market change, WinFax was the #1 fax software bringing in millions of dollars, now I doubt if they still sell it at all.

The moral of the story, the rug has been pulled out from underneath companies and, will continue to happen. Even more reason for all of us to be diligent in our roles, and continue to innovate.