Competition is a significant part in the business aspect of a company.  It is everywhere.  Whether it is competition involving marketing or selling a product, or searching for the best potential employee to become the next CEO.  Competition increases the overall quality and lowers the price of the product for the consumer in product development terms.  When it comes to producing a product for the consumer, the main goal is to produce the best quality product for the lowest price.  In the advanced technology industry, Microsoft has several competitors it has to keep an eye out for.  Apple and Google are the top two competitors for Microsoft in the PC vs Mac market, as well as the tablet and mobile device market.  Microsoft has dominated the PC market its entire life up until Apple became a major competitor.  Within the past five years or so, the PC industry has declined at a somewhat steady rate while the Mac by Apple has increased.  For the tablet and mobile device market, Microsoft is also behind, most likely in 3rd place, behind Apple and Google.  Moreover, the tablet and mobile device market has several more competitors than the PC market.  For example, Amazon is another large company that pushed itself into the tablet market and became yet another competitor to Microsoft.

Microsoft, even though down in those two huge markets to its rivals, is still a very powerful company.  Even with the threats from rivals in certain technology markets, Microsoft is still standing strong; maybe not as strong as it could be if it had a little more grasp within the Tablet and mobile device market, but nonetheless it is stable.