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The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

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Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#6

When M$FT profits are double Apple's then we'll talk about "role reversal"...

Well, given that Microsoft's profits were once double that of Apple, yes, it is quite a reversal.

(irony of using "M$" when you're talking about them not making money is great, btw)

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#7
> Just check out its striking video for the Surface Studio — it is so influenced by Apple’s playbook that I’m surprised there’s no Jony Ive narration.

What's happened is that other companies have figured out how to emulate Steve Jobs's playbook that's now several decades old and there's nobody at Apple to write new plays.

Jobs always talked about how Microsoft didn't have taste and when you look at MS products up until around 2005ish in comparison to Apple products, he was right. At some point a lot of business people realized what was making Apple successful - they weren't just selling computers, they were selling a lifestyle, they were selling cool. Oh, you are a creative? Well, shouldn't you have a Mac? It's what Einstein and Gandhi would have used.

Jobs was an absolutely brilliant marketer. Since 2005 other companies have gotten successively better at emulating Apple's design, experience, and marketing. They've distilled what Jobs knew intuitively into a formula that they can iterate on. It's not just MS, it's Dell, it's every medium and high-end manufacturer, it's Google. Please tell me what the difference between this [1] Pixel commercial and every Apple commercial made within the last decade is with the exception of the logo.

It's the Applefication of tech production and marketing and Apple doesn't have anything to stand out anymore.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCI1tcu8tQw

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#8
I was thinking recently how Bill Gates often said the biggest competitor to Windows was the previous version of Windows. Alternate OSes didn't have enough market share or compatible software to really be a threat, but customers always had the option of just not upgrading.

iPhone seems in a very similar position. Sure, there are some people who will switch from iPhone to an Android phone. But Apple's biggest challenge seems to be convincing their current customers they need a new phone at all.

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#9

When M$FT profits are double Apple's then we'll talk about "role reversal"...

> M$FT I'm sorry, are you from the past?

"Hacker" as in "Hacker News" is from an even more distant past. The word just got appropriately decaffeinated, so as to be acceptable within our current iteration of group think.
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