Microsoft, Nokia, Nintendo take shots at Apple's iPad debut
Unsurprisingly, Apple's introduction of its new multimedia, mobile computing, game playing iPad has been met with criticism from three of the company's biggest competitors: Microsoft, Nokia and Nintendo.
Nokia's issue came with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' claim Wednesday that Apple is the largest mobile device company in the world. Nokia shot back with a post on its official blog disputing the statement.
Mark Squires, head of social media Nokia, said that Jobs' comments and media coverage of it made his blood pressure rise. Jobs specifically named Nokia, and alleged that Apple's $15.6 billion in revenue last quarter made it bigger than Samsung and Sony as well. Squires post entitled "A Fruit Confused?" was his attempt to "set the record straight."
Squires said that Nokia's devices and services business earned 8.18 billion euros from October to December 2009, while Apple took in 7.25 billion euros from its mobile products.
"The difference between the two companies is even larger if you use the more common measure: the number of devices sold," Squires wrote. "by that comparison, Nokia has been the largest mobile devices company in the world for a dozen consecutive years."
Nokia and Apple currently have a number of lawsuits directed at each other, making accusations of patent violations on both parties' behalves. As the iPhone has grown in popularity, Nokia has retained its status as the market leader, but has suffered significant losses at the hands of competitors.
Microsoft, too, joined the fray this week, when Brandon Watson, director of product management in the developer platform at Microsoft told Technologizer that he found it "humorous" that "Microsoft is much more open than Apple." Watson was referring to the fact that the newly-announced iPad runs the iPhone OS, which can only install third-party applications through the Apple-controlled App Store.
Finally, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said he feels Apple didn't deliver any surprises when it revealed the iPad on Wednesday. The Japanese executive told The Associated Press that he felt Apple simply introduced "a bigger iPod touch." The report called him "totally unimpressed."
While the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft is well known, the mobile gaming platform battle between Apple and Nintendo is relatively new. Last year, Iwata said Nintendo could have a "dark future" ahead of it if the game company could not differentiate itself from Apple's iPhone.
In 2009, some of the biggest names in game publishing brought well-known franchises to the iPhone and iPod touch App Store. Franchises like The Sims, Metal Gear Solid and Grand Theft Auto have all found success on Apple's mobile platform.
Nokia's issue came with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' claim Wednesday that Apple is the largest mobile device company in the world. Nokia shot back with a post on its official blog disputing the statement.
Mark Squires, head of social media Nokia, said that Jobs' comments and media coverage of it made his blood pressure rise. Jobs specifically named Nokia, and alleged that Apple's $15.6 billion in revenue last quarter made it bigger than Samsung and Sony as well. Squires post entitled "A Fruit Confused?" was his attempt to "set the record straight."
Squires said that Nokia's devices and services business earned 8.18 billion euros from October to December 2009, while Apple took in 7.25 billion euros from its mobile products.
"The difference between the two companies is even larger if you use the more common measure: the number of devices sold," Squires wrote. "by that comparison, Nokia has been the largest mobile devices company in the world for a dozen consecutive years."
Nokia and Apple currently have a number of lawsuits directed at each other, making accusations of patent violations on both parties' behalves. As the iPhone has grown in popularity, Nokia has retained its status as the market leader, but has suffered significant losses at the hands of competitors.
Microsoft, too, joined the fray this week, when Brandon Watson, director of product management in the developer platform at Microsoft told Technologizer that he found it "humorous" that "Microsoft is much more open than Apple." Watson was referring to the fact that the newly-announced iPad runs the iPhone OS, which can only install third-party applications through the Apple-controlled App Store.
Finally, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said he feels Apple didn't deliver any surprises when it revealed the iPad on Wednesday. The Japanese executive told The Associated Press that he felt Apple simply introduced "a bigger iPod touch." The report called him "totally unimpressed."
While the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft is well known, the mobile gaming platform battle between Apple and Nintendo is relatively new. Last year, Iwata said Nintendo could have a "dark future" ahead of it if the game company could not differentiate itself from Apple's iPhone.
In 2009, some of the biggest names in game publishing brought well-known franchises to the iPhone and iPod touch App Store. Franchises like The Sims, Metal Gear Solid and Grand Theft Auto have all found success on Apple's mobile platform.
Comments
love the iphone. please make a tablet where i can visit at least 90% of the web sites out there and install software to play other media formats.
Your envy is showing. You've been upstaged, almost overnight, by a competitor with half your experience in mobile devices and gaming, respectively.
Best to start the anti-iPad FUD-machine NOW . . . and get in as many jabs as you can, because come April it's a whole new ballgame.
This is all free publicity.
Nokia mad at the iphone taking a lot of their smartphone shares. Wait they did not have any real smart phones when the iphone came out. So far they have lost all their lawsuits.
Microsoft mad at the iPod and not being able to complete. The Zune wow what was a success.
Nintendo is mad because the iphone/ipod touch games look and run better and cost a lot less their the DS and Gameboy games. So they are mad because they are loosing market shares in the hand held gaming plat form. Hay stop regurgitating Pokemon, well if they do at least update the graphics.
Go Steve...
Dear Steve Jobs,
love the iphone. please make a tablet where i can visit at least 90% of the web sites out there and install software to play other media formats.
90% of the web is not flash btw.
Note to these also rans:
Your envy is showing.
Yep. Whilst they all work like hell to try to copy it.
Microsoft and Nokia are just a bit sore. MS would do good to learn from the iPad and Nokia would do good to withdraw from the US market. :P
as the iPOD evolved, hopefully so will the iPAD. One can easily imagine, in the near future, a Macbook loosing the lid, adopting multi-touch, usb/firewire, mini-display.
I really would love an iPAD that I can use the same way as a Macbook. Hard Drive, install software (not to be confused with apps LOL), plug in external drives, etc. -- it will happen, just a matter of when.
Dear Steve Jobs,
love the iphone. please make a tablet where i can visit at least 90% of the web sites out there and install software to play other media formats.
Dear al_bundy, here you go: Axiotron Modbook. http://www.axiotron.com
The iPad is an appliance, and the more I see it the more I think it's something every house could have.
not impressed with iPAD version 1 -- but then again, it's just the beginning. it's a step in the right direction.
as the iPOD evolved, hopefully so will the iPAD. One can easily imagine, in the near future, a Macbook loosing the lid, adopting multi-touch, usb/firewire, mini-display.
I really would love an iPAD that I can use the same way as a Macbook. Hard Drive, install software (not to be confused with apps LOL), plug in external drives, etc. -- it will happen, just a matter of when.
I don't think it will actually. I think that hard drives and file systems and such are a 1980's thing. The future Apple seems to be headed towards is one of the information appliance... think cloud computing and app-focused... where all you have is applications and they manage their own files. No confusing file system exposed to the user. That's not to say that the old ways will go away. I'm sure they will be with us for a long long time. But I DO NOT see the iPad going in that direction. The iPad is a new kind of device. Making it more like a laptop would be going backwards.
not impressed with iPAD version 1 -- but then again, it's just the beginning. it's a step in the right direction.
as the iPOD evolved, hopefully so will the iPAD. One can easily imagine, in the near future, a Macbook loosing the lid, adopting multi-touch, usb/firewire, mini-display.
I really would love an iPAD that I can use the same way as a Macbook. Hard Drive, install software (not to be confused with apps LOL), plug in external drives, etc. -- it will happen, just a matter of when.
I agree. I can imagine a really large version set at a comfortable angle for editing stuff like Final Cut Pro. It would be like playing a piano. The contextual menus and finger controls they showed in the new iWorks seems to me at least the logical next step in graphical UIs. The cross over between OS X, iPhone OS X and iPad OS X will surely grow in all directions as needs demand.
Dear Steve Jobs,
love the iphone. please make a tablet where i can visit at least 90% of the web sites out there and install software to play other media formats.
The irony of your message is this.
You preface your comments with "love the iPhone" yet it doesn't handle flash or a plethor of media formats as well. Why wouldn't you love the iPad as well?
Maybe it's just me but I fully understand Apple's positioning here. Flash and other tools like Microsoft's Silverlight are just propietary layers over what should be a non-proprietary.
If I can get most of the benefits of Flash within an open markup language like HTML that's what I want.
I don't think it will actually. I think that hard drives and file systems and such are a 1980's thing. The future Apple seems to be headed towards is one of the information appliance... think cloud computing and app-focused... where all you have is applications and they manage their own files. No confusing file system exposed to the user. That's not to say that the old ways will go away. I'm sure they will be with us for a long long time. But I DO NOT see the iPad going in that direction. The iPad is a new kind of device. Making it more like a laptop would be going backwards.
Absolutely on-the-button oh wise one.
Naysayers and pundits be damned, if it's getting poo-pooed like this by the competition, and by Adobe, too, it must be because they're expecting it to be more successful than the nay-sayers would have us think.
Note to these also rans:
Your envy is showing. You've been upstaged, almost overnight, by a competitor with half your experience in mobile devices and gaming, respectively.
Best to start the anti-iPad FUD-machine NOW . . . and get in as many jabs as you can, because come April it's a whole new ballgame.
Oh the fanboys are out already I see.
I'd much sooner have a Win7 tablet than the iPad. It may not look at pretty but at least it would be able to multi-task, run flash, use Skype video chat, and install any application I like.
The iPad is a worrying step in home computing, a move from open platforms to an incredibly closed, restrictive platform. People accept limitations on smart phones because they are tiny and underpowered, but on a laptop/netbook type system, no chance. It's either open or not worth considering for a second.
Apple should have just sold it as a Kindle competitor (although not of course outside the US, where Apple will not sell ebooks at all). By going after the netbook market all the do is illustrate how incredibly primative and limited the iPad is. My first computer ever (a Commodore 64) was more open than an iPad.
not impressed with iPAD version 1 -- but then again, it's just the beginning. it's a step in the right direction.
as the iPOD evolved, hopefully so will the iPAD. One can easily imagine, in the near future, a Macbook loosing the lid, adopting multi-touch, usb/firewire, mini-display.
I really would love an iPAD that I can use the same way as a Macbook. Hard Drive, install software (not to be confused with apps LOL), plug in external drives, etc. -- it will happen, just a matter of when.
More and better apps are sure to come to the iPad version 1. iWork shows what the device is capable of. There are already basic video and audio editing apps on the iPhone; these will be made awesome on the iPad.
It's up to the developers now.
If I can get most of the benefits of Flash within an open markup language like HTML that's what I want.
Even if that were true in theory, it certainly isn't true in practice. Much of the web depends on flash. Want to watch a video online? That'll be flash. Want to play a game online? That'll be flash. Want to play Farmville? (which if you hadn't noticed, a LOT of people do) That'll be flash.
Flash is EVERYWHERE online. It's not going away anytime soon. Apple need to stop their petty argument with Adobe and accept the total dominance of flash.
The irony of your message is this.
You preface your comments with "love the iPhone" yet it doesn't handle flash or a plethor of media formats as well. Why wouldn't you love the iPad as well?
Maybe it's just me but I fully understand Apple's positioning here. Flash and other tools like Microsoft's Silverlight are just propietary layers over what should be a non-proprietary.
If I can get most of the benefits of Flash within an open markup language like HTML that's what I want.
The iPhone's a pocket device.
The future Apple seems to be headed towards is one of the information appliance... think cloud computing and app-focused... where all you have is applications and they manage their own files. No confusing file system exposed to the user.
Wow. With that statement, this whole cloud thing just made sense to me. I was really thinking it was a frivolous exercise, but you've made me rethink it. Now, I think you're right. Wow, forget about files and folders and such, and it all seems brilliant! Thanks!