Posted on 08/26/2009 10:20:19 AM PDT by Star Traveler
The iPhone & Steve Ballmer: It’s Time For Him To Eat Some Serious Crow
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
There are very few people in the tech world who annoy me quite like Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. It’s not just that he’s loud, dismissive and arrogant. It’s that he manages to be all these things while usually being spectacularly wrong, especially when it comes to Apple. Take for example his thoughts on the iPhone from a USAToday article in 2007:
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance,” said Ballmer. “It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.”
As you might imagine, I experienced a moment of pure schadenfreude last week when Canalysis senior analyst Pete Cunningham announced that not only did the iPhone have 13.7% of the global smartphone market, but that it had surpassed Windows Mobile devices which had slipped to only 9%. Even worse for Microsoft is the fact that in the last 2 years, Apple has sold more iPhones than all the Windows Mobile devices from all its vendors combined.
I can only imagine that somewhere in Redmond, behind a very heavy door…Steve Ballmer is throwing a good old-fashioned hissy fit, cursing Apple, sweating profusely and gnawing on the furniture.
The fact is that Microsoft has never truly understood Apple and that confusion has grown in part out of their unparalleled success with Windows. With Windows, Microsoft found a superior product in the Macintosh OS, produced a cheaper knock-off and then created a large ecosystem of partners for wide distribution and support. The result was global domination. Unfortunately, cheaper and more plentiful doesn’t automatically win in every situation. As computers sink into every facet of daily life and the costs of consumer technology continue to drop, more and more value is being placed on finding products which are easier, more capable or simple more enjoyable to use.
Microsoft was unable to stop the runaway success of the iPod and it’s looking more and more unlikely that they’ll be able to contain the growth of the iPhone either. Why? Because they cannot fathom a formula for success that isn’t a function of feature set divided by price. It’s how they think and it’s also how they ultimately view the products they compete against. No wonder Ballmer spends so much time shouting at the rain. From his perspective, anyone who willingly pays more for the same features is a brainwashed idiot. What he doesn’t understand is that the experience of a product is more than the sum of its component parts. It’s how the device works, how it feels and even more elusively, how it makes you feel. Can you think of a Microsoft product that is truly a joy to use? I don’t mean one that works well, because many of their products work well enough. I mean one that is a joy to use. Neither can I. That’s because Microsoft isn’t in the joy business. They’re in the “nearly as good for less” business and that isn’t an appeal to the heart. It’s an appeal to the wallet.
So Mr. Ballmer, here’s some friendly advice. The next time you feel yourself ready to mouth off about how Apple is doomed to fail because it doesn’t understand the realities of the marketplace, take a moment and think about Windows Vista and the fact that roughly 50% of Apple Store customers are new to the Mac. Think about sales figures for the Zune as compared to the iPod. Think about the millions of people ditching their Windows Mobile devices for an iPhone. Think about the $35 Billion that a zero-debt Apple has sitting in the bank and all the money it continues to make made through this harsh economic downturn. Then if you’re still confident that you’re the smart one and Apple is the delusional one, then by all means have your say.
Just understand that with your miserable track record in predicting Apple’s future, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll end up eating your own words. Better make sure they’re palatable.
I finally bought an iPhone 2 weeks ago (I was waiting for a bigger HD to hold my music) and I absolutely love it. I switched from BlackBerry and will not go back. Absolutely awesome device. And, yes, iHandy Level is pretty cool...:-)
Microsoft doesn’t actually design and manufacture those. The only hardware they actually create in-house is the Xbox 360 and Zune.
I’ve been a mac Fan since before the Fat Mac. But still, this article is little more than “neener neener, neener”.
You mean they only manufacture two products, and one of them has a 54.2% failure rate. I think I understand why they don’t build much.
You asked — Star, how do you connect to the tv?
—
A special connector...
Connect iPod to your TV: Watch Videos, Pictures on the large screen
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/05/connect-ipod-to-your-tv-watch-videos.html
[ I just googled the first thing that popped up in the list. I’m sure that there are third-party connectors, plus the Apple connector. There’s nothing special about this article except that it shows the connector...]
Well..., turnabout is fair play, I would say... :-)
There was a lot of “neener, neener, neener” when Ballmer uttered his famous words, too... back then. I knew they were wrong and stupid, and a lot of others who were familiar with the iPhone knew it, too — but still the larger number out there who might not have known — now know — to not bother listening to Ballmer in the future...
Hoo-boy! ... look at that face... :-)
Apple’s App submissions process important, necessary says developer
"The second review takes as long as the first. No cutting in line"
Wed, 26 Aug 2009
by Nick Spence
While the Apple iTunes App Store approval process may be long and hard on many would be developers, the hair-pulling and tears is worth it according to one iPhone developer.
Bottle Rocket's Calvin Carter told Macworld the process is important and necessary and not simply Apple needlessly nitpicking.
"The review process has changed dramatically over the last year. We have a good track record of approvals, but that's only because we learned the hard way what will get your app rejected," Carter told Macworld.
"Apple really focuses on user experience. Make something difficult to understand, mislead the user or don't take care of the zillions of use-cases dealing with internet connectivity and you're sure to get rejected. And, frankly you should get rejected."
Carter believes Apple is keen to ensure iPhone applications are fit for purpose and do not reflect badly on Apple if they are revealed to be buggy or overly complex.
"The app review process is long and hard on all developers. And it's certainly not perfect. But it's important and very necessary. Most issues are black and white. You'll get a pleasant email from Apple kindly informing you of a bug. You'll say to yourself "no way, that's not possible!". So, you open the zipped screen shot and, DOH!"
"There it is... Your bug in lights. You stop denying, fix that one line of code and resubmit. But the second review takes as long as the first. No cutting in line... The real pain felt by developers is the time lost when having to resubmit. We have felt that pain. It hurts... "
the above UK MacWorld Article link
And there you have it, from another viewpoint..., and why it works for the consumer... :-)
Can We Cut Out the iPhone Bashing Already?
By David Worthington
Posted at 7:23 pm on Tuesday, August 25, 2009
iPhone bashing is the trend du jour among tech pundits. The phone’s flaws are being singled out as if they’re unique to Apple, and the condemnation arrives without one shred of quantitative evidence to support hyperbolic editorials that say it’s somehow ruining customers’ lives.
Initial delight over the iPhone has faded to complaints about Apple’s micromanaging behavior and propensity to create closed systems. Nothing’s changed–Apple’s been that way since day one, and no one has to buy anything from it.
In June, I wrote about an extremely hyped survey which suggested that the iPhone is more accident-prone than other smart phones–without including the damage rates for other phone models for comparison.
In a new story in Salon, author Amanda Fortini is guilty of a similar sin. She complains about how her iPhones have repeatedly failed–including the one she dropped in a parking lot–and cherry-picks comments from forums to support her feelings about its durability. Of course, the iPhone is not singularly vulnerable to someone’s carelessness. If you drive a Volvo straight into a brick wall, you will be injured, even though it’s a safe car.
My iPhones have been very resistant to damage: the screens have never scratched, and they survived being accidentally dropped onto my hardwood floors on a few occasions. I also protect my investment, and buy cases to guard the phone. When something did go wrong (my headphone jack contacts were touching, causing weird behavior), Apple replaced my phone free of charge.
An informal survey conducted by Technologizer last year found that a majority of people were happy with their iPhone purchases, and other surveys have similar findings.
The iPhone isn’t perfect, and neither is the AT&T network. But let’s be realistic–Apple is selling a great product that has forced the rest of the industry to innovate. There would be no Palm Pre without the iPhone. Can we please move on from the sensationalistic bashing?
the Technologizer link to the above article
These so-called "tech pundits" are really stupid and idiotic sometimes (actually, many of them all the time... LOL...). When it comes to Apple and how it works and what it does and why Apple is so wildly successful, they don't seem to have a clue...
Because absolutely none of what he or you have said is true. None of it is a "fact."
Here are the facts:
Apple had 1.2 Billion dollars in CASH and another $200 million in other liquid assets and under $60 million in short term debt at the time that Microsoft was forced to invest in Apple by buying $150 million in restricted, non-voting, preferred stock to settle a lawsuit they essentially lost.
While Apple had posted a single quarter of loss ($67 million), by the time of the settlement Apple had posted two quarters of profits. Even had they still been posting losses, Apple could have done so for almost 18 more quarters before depleting their cash reserves. They were not in danger of going under.
This was reported in the contemporary press at the time. What you are doing is repeating the face saving spin rumors that Microsoft's FUD Machine started spinning almost two years later. You can search out and read on the web the three interlocking agreements between Apple and Microsoft which were approved by the court that included the payment from Microsoft to Apple, the cross licensing of technology at Microsoft's disadvantage, and the benefits that Apple gained because of the lawsuit settlement. They are public records now.
Yeah, what a paradox. :-)
I’ve been a mac Fan since before the Fat Mac.
I got the Macintosh 128K, and then, the LaserWriter (what a device, that LaserWriter..., I thought I was on top of the world, with that printer), and then I upgraded it to be the Macintosh 512K model. I remember the RAM was quite expensive back then, but I was determined to do it, regardless. Boy, that does bring back the memories... :-)
thanks star,
I was just wondering what you used and where you got it... since you’ve actually successfully done it. I’ve got an iPhone, btw.
best,
ampu
Tell me: what phone or MP3 platform has a _wider_ range of apps available, demonstrating superiority to Apple’s admittedly imperfect policies?
Well, it turns out that there is an app for everything, indeed, on the iPhone!
An app for the iPhone, even concerning your ex-girlfriend...
I got mine about four years ago and at the Apple Retail Store, so it was the Apple product... :-)
I understand this. However, the original iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. The Blackberry Storm was released on November 21, 2008. The Storm may be a fine device, but the device design is lifted almost whole cloth from the iPhone, including the touch screen, ear phones, etc. They released it a year and a half later, and there were some significant problems with the firmware until version 1.51.
They matched Apple on initial price and recently dropped the price to $99, to match Apple's $99 price on the original iPhone.
Nothing against the device, but it's an iPhone knockoff from the word go.
P.S. — and it was for the iPod... :-)
"It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money."...which also doesn't make any sense. If they're subsidizing it, how are they making money on it? What a freakin' dunce.
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