Agreed, what few if any analysts are doing right now is trying to parse out what products are part of a convergence in Apple's future development. The focus tends to be on the product itself - not where Apple is taking the consumer. But that is precisely what Apple is doing - first with the Mac, then the iPod, the iPhone and now - whatever it is that is next in line.
You see the same sort of convergence being discussed by Microsoft house devs as well. Except, Microsoft tends to focus first on marketshare and proprietary ownership, which may be their Achilles heel in all of this. The personal computing market is effectively saturated in the US. This is the primary reason why Microsoft is bleeding marketshare. Once saturation hits, the market driver is differentiation.
This is also why Dell and HP and Acer and everyone else making hardware were so successful earlier and now you see their market segments flattening out too. This is why netbooks were able to become popular - differentiation. The problem was that they are inexpensive and therefore a very low profitability. It is possible to look around the consumer marketplace and watch for telltails of where consumer interest is going to be, but a good company will drive market interest with compelling products. Apple has demonstrated they can do that with their previous products.
I agree with what you are saying, but one caveat. I don't think netbooks became popular because of 'differentiation' (is that word? ). I think they are popular because they are cheap, not because they do anything different. Back to what I said about slates and tablet, the netbook is just a laptop miniaturized with a low price point. Everyone I know who has bought one has bought it to use as a cheap device to check email and view websites, not to fill any specific need beyond a laptop.
If it runs windows, I don't want it. If I get a blue screen of death on the tablet, what the hell am I gonna do? Call HP in india, so that a guy I can't understand tells me that my warranty does not cover the OS, and redirects me to Microsoft in india. Where another guy tells me that its $35 to open a case and $135 to get the problem fixed in store. Forget it.
I'm perfectly calm. Unlike many here I don't have an emotional reaction to inanimate objects. I use the tool that gets the job done. I don't see the need to bash Google or Microsoft. We already know Ballmer is not fit to run Microsoft. Thats not really news. In fact one of the Top 10 prediction for 2010 is that he would be removed.
I have said it a million times here, competition breeds innovation. The Nexus One will push Apple to build a better iPhone. The end user (that would be us) is the only one that suffers when there is a lack of competition. Some just don't understand that very simple fact.
I really despise the statement "competition breeds innovation" when referring to Apple, as it assumes that it's companies like MS and the various PC manufacturers that are driving Apple to do what it does.
Anyone who is not suffering from MISS (Microsoft-Induced Stockholm Syndrome) can see a few glaringly obvious things regarding Apple:
1. Stating that "Apple needs competition" is in itself an admission that Apple is indeed ahead of the competition, regardless of it's market share numbers.
2. If the iPod and the iPhone has shown us anything, it's that the only competition Apple has right now is Apple. Look at the iPod over the years: the more successful it became, the better it got, eventually giving us both the iPhone and the iPod touch. The MacBook / MacBook Pro lines are arguably the best laptops on the market, Mac or Windows, and are the top selling laptops over $1000, period. Apple needs no help from competitors like MS to improve on their products; they do it all by themselves.
3. Given that in every market that Apple has entered late, it has dominated that market (yes, even in the set top TV box category AppleTV is the top seller), is it not Apple that is providing the competition to other companies? Yet these companies have failed to utilize that competitive pressure to make more innovative products; they've simply time and time again copied much of what Apple has done.
Try looking at the facts and being intellectually honest in the future.
That's the problem. MS whoring its OS out to all takers regardless of the hardware it runs on. MS chose HP (or HP chose MS, whichever, LOL.) And HP produced THAT.
MS = HP.
Done.
I'm not angry, just incredibly amused.
You sure sound angry to me, as do a lot of other posters on this thread. People here are making a mockery of PC fanboys' "hysterical" posts on whatever outside site, but all I need point to are some of the ridiculous posts being spewed in this thread. Let's have some balanced perspective, shall we? Belittling the other side here at AI and going over there to troll makes you all look like 5 years olds (PC trolls are despised here at AI, but yet it's seemingly alright to go troll for Apple elsewhere). And Microsoft does not equal HP. Microsoft has become a spokesman for the PC industry, yes, but Microsoft has been and continues to be primarily a software company. Microsoft's "whoring" of its OS to the PC hardware makers is the nature of the PC industry. Why does it bother you so much? The Apple fanboys here constantly use the hardware+software vs. software debate in their defense of Apple/smearing of Microsoft, do they not? And yet here you are, as well as others, sneering and jeering at Microsoft because they didn't manufacture and deliver on a rumored hardware product that was only a concept in the first place. Perhaps it is the Apple mentality that concepts are expected to become the real deal, I don't know. If I earned a dime for every time product concepts didn't become reality, whether from other industries (automotive comes to mind), or even the tech industry, I'd be rich.
An 88% + market share is hardly the sign of a floundering company.
But it's 88% of the PC (meaning both Windows and Mac personal computers) market. But I think back to when Steve J first came back to Apple. One of the first things he did was declare that the PC wars were over between Apple and MS. Remember when Bill Gates was on the screen during that one MacWorld keynote and everyone gasped?
Do you think that Jobs, all those years ago, knew where things were heading? Perhaps he was willing to declare the PC wars as over because he knew that several years down the road the PC market itself would be over? Why continue fighting MS over PC market share if the PC market wasn't the future?
Sure, Apple needs to continue making personal computers, that market isn't dead yet. But look how much time and effort they've put into moving beyond the PC market.
And then we see MS put their personal computer desktop OS on a tablet device. Apple has moved on. But MS is still clinging to the past.
An 88% + market share is hardly the sign of a floundering company.
Don't you love it when a PC head pulls Microsoft's market share out of their butt as evidence they are better?
I hope Microsoft's share stays big forever. They can have it and all the viruses and bullcrap that go along with it. I'm delighted to be a minority so no one bothers me.
Regarding Windows 7, I still use XP (sadly) but isn't the consensus that 7 is just a bug fix for Vista that should have been given out free with an apology, not a whole new OS?
You sure sound angry to me, as do a lot of other posters on this thread. People here are making a mockery of PC fanboys' "hysterical" posts on whatever outside site, but all I need point to are some of the ridiculous posts being spewed in this thread. Let's have some balanced perspective, shall we? Belittling the other side here at AI and going over there to troll makes you all look like 5 years olds (PC trolls are despised here at AI, but yet it's seemingly alright to go troll for Apple elsewhere). And Microsoft does not equal HP. Microsoft has become a spokesman for the PC industry, yes, but Microsoft has been and continues to be primarily a software company. Microsoft's "whoring" of its OS to the PC hardware makers is the nature of the PC industry. Why does it bother you so much? The Apple fanboys here constantly use the hardware+software vs. software debate in their defense of Apple/smearing of Microsoft, do they not? And yet here you are, as well as others, sneering and jeering at Microsoft because they didn't manufacture and deliver on a rumored hardware product that was only a concept in the first place. Perhaps it is the Apple mentality that concepts are expected to become the real deal, I don't know. If I earned a dime for every time product concepts didn't become reality, whether from other industries (automotive comes to mind), or even the tech industry, I'd be rich.
Can't really disagree with any of that. However, I will say that the software on everybody's devices does have its downsides, even if "whoring" is excessively pejorative. Maybe "promiscuous"?
The form factors of all tablets thus far, have sucked the reason i was much looking forward to the Courier would be the new form factor similar to a laptop and would give me a reason to replace my laptop if it worked well. Now if you are gaming or doing some serious hardware accelerated work then im sure tablets are 100% out of the question.
While tablets seem to be the new "in" thing again for 2010, the problem i have is how am i going to integrate this into my life? It needs to REPLACE something in some way, not be another device for me to tote around.
Every feature these tablets have like media playback, web surfing, email and ebook reading are just duplicate features from either a iPhone or Blackberry (sole reason id never buy a Kindle...no point), so why if you have said smartphone is this even worth buying?
And then we see MS put their personal computer desktop OS on a tablet device. Apple has moved on. But MS is still clinging to the past.
MS has their software on phones, cars, their own game system, Zune, PDAs, a wide variety of PC form-factors, and probably more things. How is that clinging to the past?
I really don't think MS cares all that much about the tablet/slate space. "Oh yeah, our OS runs on that, and this, and that, and this other thing, and.." What MS doesn't provide is a nicely tailored UI for all those different form-factors. I don't know if that's MS's fault or the hardware makers.
"Look! We got Windows 7 running on a 'slate'! Isn't that cool!?" Um, no. Because you didn't tailor the UI for that device. Then MS and the hardware makers point fingers at each other. MS says, "Hey, we have a decent Touch API in the OS, the vendors need to write a compelling user environment on their device." The vendors say, "Yeah, um, we don't do software so much."
Forgive me for editing your post, but that right there sums up the situation perfectly.
Just have the OS on as many devices as possible, whatever the outcome, and win on sheer volume of unit sales. Quanity over design and attention to detail. MS doesn't really care about the Average User. It comes through in their awkward, poorly thought out keynotes. MS (ballmer and co.) talks to people as if they were IT managers at a board meeting. Apple talks to people as if they are people.
Anyhow, I'd love to see Apple at this point NOT release a "Slate" PC. Just to show other companies the "You all just chase us" mentality they have.
Everyone (including Apple since they do copy on a few things too) needs to stop chasing the other dogs tail, and forge their own path! Tons of creative minds out there, make use of them. All computers (Mac, Windows, Linux) do the same things in the same way... break the mold. If I had the talent and patience, I'd program it myself, but I can't.
Erm...Apple haven't admitted to any tablet. It's all forum speculation...all of it. Apple aren't responsible for other people's hopes and dreams. However i bet they are watching all the frenzy with glee.
Forgive me for editing your post, but that right there sums up the situation perfectly.
Just have the OS on as many devices as possible, whatever the outcome, and win on sheer volume of unit sales. Quanity over design and attention to detail. MS doesn't really care about the Average User. It comes through in their awkward, poorly thought out keynotes. MS (ballmer) talks to people as if they were IT managers at a board meeting. Apple talks to people as if they are people.
On the nose. Microsoft is trying to pander to the consumer market but still talks and designs for the business market. Although they are close to doing it right with the XBox 360 and the Zune HD (yes I love my Zune HD so sue me ), Ballmer still doesn't know how to properly capitalize on the consumer markets. And I have often wondered if it is a corporate culture issue where MS allows the different departments to do what they want versus Apple that has a clear 'buck stops here' man with Jobs. It is clear that some departments at MS actually know what they are doing while others have their heads lodged somewhere unnatural. And it all just clashes.
And yet here you are, as well as others, sneering and jeering at Microsoft because they didn't manufacture and deliver on a rumored hardware product that was only a concept in the first place.
Well, there's always going to be sneering and jeering at AI, but when the last entry of the keynote coverage of your event from one of the top tech sites in the world reads:
Quote:
From Engadget: "Thank you very much." And Robbie is gone. And... that's it? Wow. Incredibly boring. Incredibly incredibly boring. Really.
you have to think your presentation was a bit of a flop.
As far as the "rumored hardware product that was only a concept" that you seem to be dismissing - I really hope that isn't so. The creatives I worked with thought that was a far more interesting product than a slate form factor. We've been working with Cintiqs for years (so "slate" computing is old hat to us) and having a portable product with an extra screen would be a HUGE selling factor for the creative market. Among my associates, we are very disappointed today, and we're all pretty much agreed we're not buying in to the Apple slate as a professional product until we see if the Courier shows up in the next year. So your "only a concept" is the only MS product any of the Mac-head creatives I work with really, really want.
I would say to MS, stop trying to make everyone somewhat happy with every product and try and get your hardware manufacturers to make a few people extremely happy with a few products. There's nothing like a few zealots who can't stop talking about their gadgets to spread the word. If you don't have people who "get it" and "love it" you're not going to inspire passion in your products.
Every feature these tablets have like media playback, web surfing, email and ebook reading are just duplicate features from either a iPhone or Blackberry (sole reason id never buy a Kindle...no point), so why if you have said smartphone is this even worth buying?
Tablets are a terrible form-factor for productivity and media creation.
But they are an ideal form-factor for media consumption.
Apple have figured out that there are a lot of professional users of computers. And for that market they make the MacBook Pros and the like.
But Apple also know that there are a lot of computer users - who do little more than watch media, browse the web, and do a little light face-booking.
For this audience, the full-blown OS / Notebook OS is entirely the wrong product. Mac OS X is wrong. Windows 7 is wrong. Ubuntu is super wrong. So how about a computer, purpose built for that audience.
Yes you can do some of this on a phone. But I would never read a book on a phone or want to watch a full length movie on a screen the size of a business card.
MS has their software on phones, cars, their own game system, Zune, PDAs, a wide variety of PC form-factors, and probably more things. How is that clinging to the past?
Because they put a desktop OS, including it's interface, on a "slate" device. That is the pretty much the definition of clinging to the past.
Some of the other devices you list (Zune, etc) at least had some innovation in the UI. But why in god's name would they run a Windows 7 UI on a 10" screen?
Answer: Because Apple hasn't yet showed them what a good UI for such a device looks like. Once Apple shows their device, you can get MS will begin working on a new interface for these types of devices.
Anyway, the point of my post was that Apple has for many years, probably longer than any of us would suspect, been working towards the day when the personal computer as we currently know it is gone.
People said the same thing before Apple the iPod and the iPhone "There are many X products and everyone tried everything". You can replace "X" with mp3 players, smartphones, or the tablets. Can you see the pattern here?
I think everyone is laughing at MS is because MS showed nothing new. Unless you consider a tablet running Windows 7 an innovation.
Microsoft has nothing new to show. Its been that way for a while now. That isn't news. Microsoft isn't the one Apple should be concerned about, its Google.
Every company has its dark times, clearly Microsoft is in those dark times. Its not like Apple hasn't had theirs and you know what hey say about being #1, there is only one place to go.
I remember when Apple had to struggle to get 2% market share on any of their products. Apple is doing very well now but it would be foolish to think its always going to stay that way. Steve Jobs isn't going to be at Apple forever and in history their have been alot bigger and stronger companies then Apple have have gone downhill fast. AIG and GM come to mind.
Microsoft has nothing new to show. Its been that way for a while now. That isn't news. Microsoft isn't the one Apple should be concerned about, its Google.
Every company has its dark times, clearly Microsoft is in those dark times. Its not like Apple hasn't had theirs and you know what hey say about being #1, there is only one place to go.
I remember when Apple had to struggle to get 2% market share on any of their products. Apple is doing very well now but it would be foolish to think its always going to stay that way. Steve Jobs isn't going to be at Apple forever and in history their have been alot bigger and stronger companies then Apple have have gone downhill fast. AIG and GM come to mind.
You must be out of your mind to compare ford/Aig to Apple, good luck with your microsoft stock.
History will show this for what it is... a desperate move by a floundering company.
It is almost as if they want to be accused of copying Apple.
I thought of the PC brands HP was actually passing up Dell.
Still, I have to agree that this is just sad. Sad, sad, sad.... It looks fairly sleek but that commercial didn't give me a hint of anything significant. It's as if it was saying to me, "Look, I can do the same things you can do on an iPhone, except mine is huge. I'm split between whether I want to be a Kindle or an iPhone, I'm so confused!"
Lame, just lame. They totally need to fire their ad agency cause from that commercial I'm more likely to jump to the conclusion that it's just a glorified digital picture frame that can browse the web.
Comments
Agreed, what few if any analysts are doing right now is trying to parse out what products are part of a convergence in Apple's future development. The focus tends to be on the product itself - not where Apple is taking the consumer. But that is precisely what Apple is doing - first with the Mac, then the iPod, the iPhone and now - whatever it is that is next in line.
You see the same sort of convergence being discussed by Microsoft house devs as well. Except, Microsoft tends to focus first on marketshare and proprietary ownership, which may be their Achilles heel in all of this. The personal computing market is effectively saturated in the US. This is the primary reason why Microsoft is bleeding marketshare. Once saturation hits, the market driver is differentiation.
This is also why Dell and HP and Acer and everyone else making hardware were so successful earlier and now you see their market segments flattening out too. This is why netbooks were able to become popular - differentiation. The problem was that they are inexpensive and therefore a very low profitability. It is possible to look around the consumer marketplace and watch for telltails of where consumer interest is going to be, but a good company will drive market interest with compelling products. Apple has demonstrated they can do that with their previous products.
I agree with what you are saying, but one caveat. I don't think netbooks became popular because of 'differentiation' (is that word?
I'm perfectly calm. Unlike many here I don't have an emotional reaction to inanimate objects. I use the tool that gets the job done. I don't see the need to bash Google or Microsoft. We already know Ballmer is not fit to run Microsoft. Thats not really news. In fact one of the Top 10 prediction for 2010 is that he would be removed.
I have said it a million times here, competition breeds innovation. The Nexus One will push Apple to build a better iPhone. The end user (that would be us) is the only one that suffers when there is a lack of competition. Some just don't understand that very simple fact.
I really despise the statement "competition breeds innovation" when referring to Apple, as it assumes that it's companies like MS and the various PC manufacturers that are driving Apple to do what it does.
Anyone who is not suffering from MISS (Microsoft-Induced Stockholm Syndrome) can see a few glaringly obvious things regarding Apple:
1. Stating that "Apple needs competition" is in itself an admission that Apple is indeed ahead of the competition, regardless of it's market share numbers.
2. If the iPod and the iPhone has shown us anything, it's that the only competition Apple has right now is Apple. Look at the iPod over the years: the more successful it became, the better it got, eventually giving us both the iPhone and the iPod touch. The MacBook / MacBook Pro lines are arguably the best laptops on the market, Mac or Windows, and are the top selling laptops over $1000, period. Apple needs no help from competitors like MS to improve on their products; they do it all by themselves.
3. Given that in every market that Apple has entered late, it has dominated that market (yes, even in the set top TV box category AppleTV is the top seller), is it not Apple that is providing the competition to other companies? Yet these companies have failed to utilize that competitive pressure to make more innovative products; they've simply time and time again copied much of what Apple has done.
Try looking at the facts and being intellectually honest in the future.
That's the problem. MS whoring its OS out to all takers regardless of the hardware it runs on. MS chose HP (or HP chose MS, whichever, LOL.) And HP produced THAT.
MS = HP.
Done.
I'm not angry, just incredibly amused.
You sure sound angry to me, as do a lot of other posters on this thread. People here are making a mockery of PC fanboys' "hysterical" posts on whatever outside site, but all I need point to are some of the ridiculous posts being spewed in this thread. Let's have some balanced perspective, shall we? Belittling the other side here at AI and going over there to troll makes you all look like 5 years olds (PC trolls are despised here at AI, but yet it's seemingly alright to go troll for Apple elsewhere). And Microsoft does not equal HP. Microsoft has become a spokesman for the PC industry, yes, but Microsoft has been and continues to be primarily a software company. Microsoft's "whoring" of its OS to the PC hardware makers is the nature of the PC industry. Why does it bother you so much? The Apple fanboys here constantly use the hardware+software vs. software debate in their defense of Apple/smearing of Microsoft, do they not? And yet here you are, as well as others, sneering and jeering at Microsoft because they didn't manufacture and deliver on a rumored hardware product that was only a concept in the first place. Perhaps it is the Apple mentality that concepts are expected to become the real deal, I don't know. If I earned a dime for every time product concepts didn't become reality, whether from other industries (automotive comes to mind), or even the tech industry, I'd be rich.
An 88% + market share is hardly the sign of a floundering company.
But it's 88% of the PC (meaning both Windows and Mac personal computers) market. But I think back to when Steve J first came back to Apple. One of the first things he did was declare that the PC wars were over between Apple and MS. Remember when Bill Gates was on the screen during that one MacWorld keynote and everyone gasped?
Do you think that Jobs, all those years ago, knew where things were heading? Perhaps he was willing to declare the PC wars as over because he knew that several years down the road the PC market itself would be over? Why continue fighting MS over PC market share if the PC market wasn't the future?
Sure, Apple needs to continue making personal computers, that market isn't dead yet. But look how much time and effort they've put into moving beyond the PC market.
And then we see MS put their personal computer desktop OS on a tablet device. Apple has moved on. But MS is still clinging to the past.
An 88% + market share is hardly the sign of a floundering company.
Don't you love it when a PC head pulls Microsoft's market share out of their butt as evidence they are better?
I hope Microsoft's share stays big forever. They can have it and all the viruses and bullcrap that go along with it. I'm delighted to be a minority so no one bothers me.
Regarding Windows 7, I still use XP (sadly) but isn't the consensus that 7 is just a bug fix for Vista that should have been given out free with an apology, not a whole new OS?
You sure sound angry to me, as do a lot of other posters on this thread. People here are making a mockery of PC fanboys' "hysterical" posts on whatever outside site, but all I need point to are some of the ridiculous posts being spewed in this thread. Let's have some balanced perspective, shall we? Belittling the other side here at AI and going over there to troll makes you all look like 5 years olds (PC trolls are despised here at AI, but yet it's seemingly alright to go troll for Apple elsewhere). And Microsoft does not equal HP. Microsoft has become a spokesman for the PC industry, yes, but Microsoft has been and continues to be primarily a software company. Microsoft's "whoring" of its OS to the PC hardware makers is the nature of the PC industry. Why does it bother you so much? The Apple fanboys here constantly use the hardware+software vs. software debate in their defense of Apple/smearing of Microsoft, do they not? And yet here you are, as well as others, sneering and jeering at Microsoft because they didn't manufacture and deliver on a rumored hardware product that was only a concept in the first place. Perhaps it is the Apple mentality that concepts are expected to become the real deal, I don't know. If I earned a dime for every time product concepts didn't become reality, whether from other industries (automotive comes to mind), or even the tech industry, I'd be rich.
Can't really disagree with any of that. However, I will say that the software on everybody's devices does have its downsides, even if "whoring" is excessively pejorative. Maybe "promiscuous"?
While tablets seem to be the new "in" thing again for 2010, the problem i have is how am i going to integrate this into my life? It needs to REPLACE something in some way, not be another device for me to tote around.
Every feature these tablets have like media playback, web surfing, email and ebook reading are just duplicate features from either a iPhone or Blackberry (sole reason id never buy a Kindle...no point), so why if you have said smartphone is this even worth buying?
And then we see MS put their personal computer desktop OS on a tablet device. Apple has moved on. But MS is still clinging to the past.
MS has their software on phones, cars, their own game system, Zune, PDAs, a wide variety of PC form-factors, and probably more things. How is that clinging to the past?
I really don't think MS cares all that much about the tablet/slate space. "Oh yeah, our OS runs on that, and this, and that, and this other thing, and.." What MS doesn't provide is a nicely tailored UI for all those different form-factors. I don't know if that's MS's fault or the hardware makers.
"Look! We got Windows 7 running on a 'slate'! Isn't that cool!?" Um, no. Because you didn't tailor the UI for that device. Then MS and the hardware makers point fingers at each other. MS says, "Hey, we have a decent Touch API in the OS, the vendors need to write a compelling user environment on their device." The vendors say, "Yeah, um, we don't do software so much."
- Jasen.
I really don't think MS cares
Forgive me for editing your post, but that right there sums up the situation perfectly.
Just have the OS on as many devices as possible, whatever the outcome, and win on sheer volume of unit sales. Quanity over design and attention to detail. MS doesn't really care about the Average User. It comes through in their awkward, poorly thought out keynotes. MS (ballmer and co.) talks to people as if they were IT managers at a board meeting. Apple talks to people as if they are people.
Anyhow, I'd love to see Apple at this point NOT release a "Slate" PC. Just to show other companies the "You all just chase us" mentality they have.
Everyone (including Apple since they do copy on a few things too) needs to stop chasing the other dogs tail, and forge their own path! Tons of creative minds out there, make use of them. All computers (Mac, Windows, Linux) do the same things in the same way... break the mold. If I had the talent and patience, I'd program it myself, but I can't.
Erm...Apple haven't admitted to any tablet. It's all forum speculation...all of it. Apple aren't responsible for other people's hopes and dreams. However i bet they are watching all the frenzy with glee.
Apple talks to people as if they are people.
You mean like
"Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.
Steve"
Yeah right!!
Five hundred dollars!!!
Five hundred dollars for a picture frame without a keyboard!!!
Bwahahahhhaahhhaaahhhhaaa!!!
Forgive me for editing your post, but that right there sums up the situation perfectly.
Just have the OS on as many devices as possible, whatever the outcome, and win on sheer volume of unit sales. Quanity over design and attention to detail. MS doesn't really care about the Average User. It comes through in their awkward, poorly thought out keynotes. MS (ballmer) talks to people as if they were IT managers at a board meeting. Apple talks to people as if they are people.
On the nose. Microsoft is trying to pander to the consumer market but still talks and designs for the business market. Although they are close to doing it right with the XBox 360 and the Zune HD (yes I love my Zune HD so sue me
And yet here you are, as well as others, sneering and jeering at Microsoft because they didn't manufacture and deliver on a rumored hardware product that was only a concept in the first place.
Well, there's always going to be sneering and jeering at AI, but when the last entry of the keynote coverage of your event from one of the top tech sites in the world reads:
From Engadget: "Thank you very much." And Robbie is gone. And... that's it? Wow. Incredibly boring. Incredibly incredibly boring. Really.
you have to think your presentation was a bit of a flop.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/l...-2010-keynote/
As far as the "rumored hardware product that was only a concept" that you seem to be dismissing - I really hope that isn't so. The creatives I worked with thought that was a far more interesting product than a slate form factor. We've been working with Cintiqs for years (so "slate" computing is old hat to us) and having a portable product with an extra screen would be a HUGE selling factor for the creative market. Among my associates, we are very disappointed today, and we're all pretty much agreed we're not buying in to the Apple slate as a professional product until we see if the Courier shows up in the next year. So your "only a concept" is the only MS product any of the Mac-head creatives I work with really, really want.
I would say to MS, stop trying to make everyone somewhat happy with every product and try and get your hardware manufacturers to make a few people extremely happy with a few products. There's nothing like a few zealots who can't stop talking about their gadgets to spread the word. If you don't have people who "get it" and "love it" you're not going to inspire passion in your products.
Every feature these tablets have like media playback, web surfing, email and ebook reading are just duplicate features from either a iPhone or Blackberry (sole reason id never buy a Kindle...no point), so why if you have said smartphone is this even worth buying?
Tablets are a terrible form-factor for productivity and media creation.
But they are an ideal form-factor for media consumption.
Apple have figured out that there are a lot of professional users of computers. And for that market they make the MacBook Pros and the like.
But Apple also know that there are a lot of computer users - who do little more than watch media, browse the web, and do a little light face-booking.
For this audience, the full-blown OS / Notebook OS is entirely the wrong product. Mac OS X is wrong. Windows 7 is wrong. Ubuntu is super wrong. So how about a computer, purpose built for that audience.
Yes you can do some of this on a phone. But I would never read a book on a phone or want to watch a full length movie on a screen the size of a business card.
C.
MS has their software on phones, cars, their own game system, Zune, PDAs, a wide variety of PC form-factors, and probably more things. How is that clinging to the past?
Because they put a desktop OS, including it's interface, on a "slate" device. That is the pretty much the definition of clinging to the past.
Some of the other devices you list (Zune, etc) at least had some innovation in the UI. But why in god's name would they run a Windows 7 UI on a 10" screen?
Answer: Because Apple hasn't yet showed them what a good UI for such a device looks like. Once Apple shows their device, you can get MS will begin working on a new interface for these types of devices.
Anyway, the point of my post was that Apple has for many years, probably longer than any of us would suspect, been working towards the day when the personal computer as we currently know it is gone.
People said the same thing before Apple the iPod and the iPhone "There are many X products and everyone tried everything". You can replace "X" with mp3 players, smartphones, or the tablets. Can you see the pattern here?
I think everyone is laughing at MS is because MS showed nothing new. Unless you consider a tablet running Windows 7 an innovation.
Microsoft has nothing new to show. Its been that way for a while now. That isn't news. Microsoft isn't the one Apple should be concerned about, its Google.
Every company has its dark times, clearly Microsoft is in those dark times. Its not like Apple hasn't had theirs and you know what hey say about being #1, there is only one place to go.
I remember when Apple had to struggle to get 2% market share on any of their products. Apple is doing very well now but it would be foolish to think its always going to stay that way. Steve Jobs isn't going to be at Apple forever and in history their have been alot bigger and stronger companies then Apple have have gone downhill fast. AIG and GM come to mind.
Microsoft has nothing new to show. Its been that way for a while now. That isn't news. Microsoft isn't the one Apple should be concerned about, its Google.
Every company has its dark times, clearly Microsoft is in those dark times. Its not like Apple hasn't had theirs and you know what hey say about being #1, there is only one place to go.
I remember when Apple had to struggle to get 2% market share on any of their products. Apple is doing very well now but it would be foolish to think its always going to stay that way. Steve Jobs isn't going to be at Apple forever and in history their have been alot bigger and stronger companies then Apple have have gone downhill fast. AIG and GM come to mind.
You must be out of your mind to compare ford/Aig to Apple, good luck with your microsoft stock.
History will show this for what it is... a desperate move by a floundering company.
It is almost as if they want to be accused of copying Apple.
I thought of the PC brands HP was actually passing up Dell.
Still, I have to agree that this is just sad. Sad, sad, sad.... It looks fairly sleek but that commercial didn't give me a hint of anything significant. It's as if it was saying to me, "Look, I can do the same things you can do on an iPhone, except mine is huge. I'm split between whether I want to be a Kindle or an iPhone, I'm so confused!"
Lame, just lame. They totally need to fire their ad agency cause from that commercial I'm more likely to jump to the conclusion that it's just a glorified digital picture frame that can browse the web.