Out of the list of the following companies, how would you rank them in innovation?:

• Microsoft
• IBM
• Cisco
• Google
• HP
• Apple
• Dell

Now, rank those same companies on how much money they spend a year on R&D. Here is a hint for the 2nd list, it should look exactly like the list just presented. In fact, Microsoft spent 8 times more in 2009 in research and development than Apple based on numbers from the Business Insider. Here are the numbers:

• Microsoft – 8.6 Billion
• IBM – 5.8 Billion
• Cisco – 5.0 Billion
• Google – 2.8 Billion
• HP – 2.77 Billion
• Apple – 1.1 Billion
• Dell – 0.62 Billion

I think it would be difficult to argue that Apple and Google are not on top of the mix in innovation. Where as Microsoft and IBM are on the bottom. Why? Granted I don’t know the inner workings of either company, so this is just a guess. What I’m thinking is that much of the Innovation from Apple is coming from Steve Jobs. And Steve Jobs, love him or hate him, knows how to innovate and has little concern about saving other egos and feelings along the way. When it comes to companies like Microsoft and IBM, much of the “Innovation” is done by committee comprised of people that have survived politically long enough to grow into a corporate role that allows them to sit and lead committees tasked with being innovative. This is clearly not the formula for success. In fact one may argue that politically savvy and innovation are inversely proportional. On the other hand, being an incredibly gifted innovator and having what it takes to run a company successfully are also often inversely proportional. Suffice it to say, may things need to line up just right. As for the others, IBM and Microsoft, they will continue to ride with their inertia for years to come. And they will spend billions on R&D. And with their billions, they will do more to keep the senior level innovators happy than producing anything innovative.

Ari David should have known better to try to get this approved by Apple covered in this article by CNet. There are better places to focus your energy/money to get your word out. In general the GOP needs to catch up on the Intranet. This goes for digital marketing, Web Sites, mobile site, apps, the works. Perhaps the GOP is behind as the non-GOP side attracts more of the volunteers that understand how to work with the new tools.

Adobe does love Apple. At least Apple users love Adobe. And Adobe users love Apple. This is a difficult one. Look for the family to be fighting for a while on this one.

But for the rest of us… Most end users don’t care as long as what they want works on the device they want to use. When I first got my iPad, I knew Flash would not work. But when I went to YouTube and was able to see thousands of videos working perfectly I got used to what a good iPad experience felt like. Then when I went to sites that must have been using Flash to delivery the video, my disappointment quickly was directed to that site owner for not figuring out to to get their site to fully work on my iPad. Wrong I know, but still, that was my emotional feeling and I’m sure will be the felling of many others.