81–90 of 121 posts
Gruber's thoughts can be summed up as: Google vs Apple, bring it on, but where's Microsoft? While he isn't wrong, it's not exactly much more than some common sense. I also think he _seriously_ underestimates Microsoft.
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In the PC market, Apple competes on quality, Microsoft (with hardware manufacturers) competes on price. This is the world Ballmer imagined for the smartphone market, but when Google knocked the floor out by giving away the OS (or even paying the carrier a cut of the search revenue), there is no place left for Microsoft to position itself. Unless Windows Mobile is a vastly superior product to Android (and how likely i…
They could just lose money, up to tens of billions, for a decade while working their way up to a solid 3rd place position. Worked for Xbox.
I'm not sure they can.
This market is much more complex, with a faster-moving platform, more hardware innovation, and competition (Apple, Nokia, RIM and Google) that can't be bullied or out-spent.
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Gruber is right about Microsoft failing at phones and that there is not much they can do about it. However, I don't think Ballmer is in denial about that. It was and is obvious that at some point all phones will be what we call smartphones now. I think Ballmer's point is that even when that happens, the iPhone will not be able to sustain its 16%. It will still have insignificant market share. Android will not, though…
"I think Ballmer asked the right question and got the right answer. He just doesn't have any way to respond to Android." Of course he does: he can give away the new smartphone OS. It's not as if Microsoft has never given away software to win market share.
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Apple has a tiny sliver of the total phone market and that's what he meant That was mentioned in the article: Apple has 10x less market share than Nokia and still more revenue.
More profit, Nokia has significantly more revenue. Apple only sells very high-margin phones while Nokia sells at all levels.
His points on Microsoft are well made. Given the strategic importance of this market it amazes me how badly they've done. Realize they beat Apple to market by around 4 years (depending on how you count the PocketPC/Phone hybrids) and Google by almost 5 . Now they've tossed the whole thing out and started over with a product that won't be out for another 6 months and in terms of features seems to be equivalent to a fi…
In the PC market, Apple competes on quality, Microsoft (with hardware manufacturers) competes on price. This is the world Ballmer imagined for the smartphone market, but when Google knocked the floor out by giving away the OS (or even paying the carrier a cut of the search revenue), there is no place left for Microsoft to position itself. Unless Windows Mobile is a vastly superior product to Android (and how likely i…
Blackberry can provide a lot of those features, but not all.
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It's shocking how irrelevant they are in most of the things that are getting a lot of press these days. It's hard for me to imagine the scenario where Windows ever becomes a big player on mobile. I wonder where they'd be if they'd have been broken up by the US government a decade ago.
I remember the early 2000s. I devoutly hoped that Linux would get widely used in some way, even if it never really took off on the desktop. I wanted open source to be fairly common and well-accepted, and not just something that weird people wrote and talked about on Slashdot. And hacker-friendly open-source Linux-based smartphones would be great, but that was just too implausibly awesome to even hope for. I wanted pl…
So, I too find it quite humorous that Linux is poised to be a, if not the major player in the next generation of computing - the portable/dedicated devices. But what I find more amusing is that it hasn't been the success of Linux on the desktop that has made this possible, it has been the decline in the importance of the desktop.
So, 2010 may finally be the year of Linux, but it still won't be the year of Linux on the desktop. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I think Ballmer asked the right question and got the right answer. He just doesn't have any way to respond to Android." Of course he does: he can give away the new smartphone OS. It's not as if Microsoft has never given away software to win market share.
He would also have to make it open source with no strings attached then pray the community will adopt it.
His points on Microsoft are well made. Given the strategic importance of this market it amazes me how badly they've done. Realize they beat Apple to market by around 4 years (depending on how you count the PocketPC/Phone hybrids) and Google by almost 5 . Now they've tossed the whole thing out and started over with a product that won't be out for another 6 months and in terms of features seems to be equivalent to a fi…
His footnote is interesting: "Although there’s still no decent Android-based equivalent to the iPod Touch." He's right. Based on price, there is no equivalent. On features, the equivalent is a Google Nexus One without a SIM card. Trouble is, that's about to not be available from Google directly. I'm wondering whether we'll be able to buy an N1 without a contract ever again. Disclosure: I bought an N1 directly from Go…
How long will people keep on buying MP3 players? Eventually, phones will be good enough to replace them 100% Also, will iPhone OS 4 be available for iPod Touch? I rather doubt it?
His footnote is interesting: "Although there’s still no decent Android-based equivalent to the iPod Touch." He's right. Based on price, there is no equivalent. On features, the equivalent is a Google Nexus One without a SIM card. Trouble is, that's about to not be available from Google directly. I'm wondering whether we'll be able to buy an N1 without a contract ever again. Disclosure: I bought an N1 directly from Go…
How long will people keep on buying MP3 players? Eventually, phones will be good enough to replace them 100% Also, will iPhone OS 4 be available for iPod Touch? I rather doubt it?
Eventually, phones will be good enough to replace them 100%
I plug my Sansa into my car stereo, and can skip or pause songs without taking my eyes off the road.
With a glass screen and virtual buttons it becomes much harder.
Plus, I like have good, inexpensive, dedicated devices.