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How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft

nytimes.com

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Re: How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft

#51

Post by Gigablah »

laichzeit0 wrote: post #25
DigitalSea wrote: post #12

The easiest explanation of what happened was Microsoft were a software company who had all of their eggs in one basket relying upon third parties to use their operating system and consumers/enterprise to use their products like Microsoft Office. Whereas Apple started out as both a hardware and software company, first computers and then portable music players (iPod), watches (iWatch) and phones (iPhone). This is where…

> Apple had the hardware and were providing the software thus locking out any competitors from their platform. Lockout is one way of looking at it. Another way is that it gives them the ability to make things integrate extremely well. Seamless integration like Apple does is extremely difficult to achieve without complete control of the ecosystem. > Not to mention, they were focusing on the design aspect of the device…

I wouldn't call the Surface Pro "ugly" and "geeky looking".

Re: How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft

#52

Post by [deleted] »

bluthru wrote: post #41
Rapzid wrote: post #10

Is interesting but now Microsoft is the more open company and Apple is IBM from the 1984 commercial. Maybe I'm just older, but now at 30 I'm much more of into Microsoft than when I was a teenager(I never really got on the hate M$ bandwagon though). What they have been doing with Azure and .NET ecosystems is great. They have top engineering and research chops; just look at the new goggles and a lot of their labs proje…

>They have top engineering and research chops; just look at the new goggles and a lot of their labs projects. MSDN is a wealth of free knowledge. A common comparison between MS and Apple is that MS pours a lot of money into R&D and makes a lot of forward-looking videos. Meanwhile Apple is laser-focused, spends way less on R&D, and ships. Microsoft lost a decade, and you feel that MS is more substantial in computing?…

[deleted]

Re: How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft

#53

Post by mercer »

cwp wrote: post #23

Ugh. So annoying to see journalists ignore the obvious in their obsession with writing a "balanced" story. So yes, Apple's iPhone is like Microsoft's Windows. Both are hugely successful products that accounted for the bulk of their creator's profits. Microsoft was unwilling to threaten the enormous revenue it gets from Windows, and now that the focus of innovation has shifted away from PCs it has lost its dominance.…

It's also possible that Apple is doing what they say they're doing: create great products. Maybe the next iPhone is their 'next iPhone'. Maybe the Apple Watch will eclipse the iPhone. Maybe it will be just another lucrative product.

My impression from Apple's behavior is that they're focused on creating products that bring 'computers' into the lives of consumers in ways that are desirable by consumers, regardless of form or specific functionality. They had a smash hit with the iPhone, but they're probably just as happy with the iPad and, to a lesser degree, with Apple TV.

What interests me most is how they will react to a potential (and likely) breakthrough in VR, or AR. Apple doesn't seem to put much focus on that.

Re: How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft

#54

Post by lurcio »

PhoenixWright wrote: post #39
avelis wrote: post #14

I think in some ways Microsoft lost its dominance by focusing on the wrong competition. Microsoft Bing is a great example of Microsoft trying to become a company it wasn't. (i.e. Google) In my perspective, Apple dialed in it's focus, avoided the same pitfalls, and came out a dominant player in a market not many were focused to innovate on. (i.e. smartphones).

I agree. Microsoft wasted great opportunities by trying to copy Google. I really think they've fixed that however. Microsoft seems to have its own identity as of late.

I think they have always fought on too many fronts. Perhaps because of their dominance, they didnt know how to ignore opportunity, which of course was everywhere for them

Still - as they say in Italy - a fish rots from its head. Thats where the buck lies.

Re: How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft

#55

Post by lurcio »

thewarrior wrote: post #5

>> But he noted that by many measures, Apple shares appeared to be a bargain. “The valuation is still inexpensive,” he said. “It’s less than 13 times next year’s earnings and less than 10 times cash flow,” both below the market average. “Those are very low multiples. They have $140 billion in cash on the balance sheet and they’re generating $60 billion in cash a year. All the numbers are just enormous, which is hard…

Not in anyway financial advice, but maybe a good idea if you do so with position protection. If that makes no sense - then only invest based on your risk appetite.

Re: How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft

#56

Post by prostoalex »

Steko wrote: post #16

The problem for Microsoft isn't that they didn't see mobile coming and Apple did like as article suggests. The problem for Microsoft is that their previous strategy of ruthlessly copying Apple's innovations and taking the market for themselves with a highly profitable licensing model was coopted by Google doing the same thing except Google gave it away. If you're looking for the old MS it's alive and well at Google,…

> The problem for Microsoft isn't that they didn't see mobile coming and Apple did

They did have a mobile operating system, a mobile .NET framework for application builders, and a bunch of early PDAs shipped with Windows Mobile.

Apple just managed to redefine the mobile market completely, and make Nokia, Sony/Ericsson, Research in Motion, Kyocera and others irrelevant. Those others were supposed to be producing hardware devices that would license Microsoft's mobile products.

So they had a vision, just turned out to be wrong.

Re: How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft

#57

Post by ulfw »

pmelendez wrote: post #49
bluthru wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>They have top engineering and research chops; just look at the new goggles and a lot of their labs projects. MSDN is a wealth of free knowledge. A common comparison between MS and Apple is that MS pours a lot of money into R&D and makes a lot of forward-looking videos. Meanwhile Apple is laser-focused, spends way less on R&D, and ships. Microsoft lost a decade, and you feel that MS is more substantial in computing?…

> "Microsoft lost a decade " Did it though? MS has been pretty strong in the enterprise. Also is the same decade of Xbox and Kinect.

Blackberry is pretty strong in the enterprise too. :)
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