Microsoft, the VW family sedan of IT, wants to be tech's new Rolls-Royce (Tech Business Analysis)

The Register ^ | Oct 7, 2015 | Iain Thomson

[dayglored]

If there's one message that stands out from Microsoft's big device day launch on Tuesday it's this: stop thinking about Redmond as the cheap option, because it wants to be seen as the premium brand.

For years Microsoft has sold itself as the dominant ecosystem for computing that won't cost you too much. The device day focus, however, shows that Microsoft is intent on going after the big spenders in the IT industry.

Take the Surface Book, for example. Again and again Microsoft hammered the message that this was the ultimate laptop, with no expense spared. That's reflected in the price – $1,500 will get you the base unit but you can spent nearly three grand on a top-of-the-range system with dual graphics chips and a terabyte of solid state storage.

That's a hell of a lot for a laptop. You can pick up a good-enough laptop for a tenth of the price of a top-of-the-range Surface Book running Windows. But there's a market for people willing to spend a fortune on top-spec hardware, both in the gaming market and also for the executive who likes to show off a bit.

... (fairly long, in-depth article) ...

[dayglored]

Interesting business analysis in the wake of the great announcements of the past few days.

[dayglored]

Microsoft's business strategy analyzed ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

[adorno]

the only problem with all of the fantastic devices which MS unveiled Tuesday, is that, they don’t come with an Apple logon on them. With the Apple logo, the Surface Book would sell 20 million in a quarter, the Surface Pro 4 would sell 25 million in a quarter, and the Lumia 950/950XL would sell 100 million in the first quarter. Apple would then go past the trillion dollar market cap which analysts have been expecting for years. (BTW, MS had actually reached the trillion dollar mark in the past, when taking inflation into consideration).

[tacticalogic]

And the HoloLens demo would consist of watching Apple TV while you drive.

[dayglored]

> the only problem with all of the fantastic devices which MS unveiled Tuesday, is that, they don’t come with an Apple logon on them. With the Apple logo, the Surface Book would sell 20 million in a quarter, the Surface Pro 4 would sell 25 million in a quarter, and the Lumia 950/950XL would sell 100 million in the first quarter. Apple would then go past the trillion dollar market cap which analysts have been expecting for years. (BTW, MS had actually reached the trillion dollar mark in the past, when taking inflation into consideration).

Oh, poop. The Microsoft Windows user base is arguably 20 TIMES the Apple OS X user base. There are 20 times as many potential customers for the great new Surface products as there are for MacBooks and iPads.

If these terrific new products fail to sell, it will be only because Microsoft STILL doesn't know how to market a product unless they already have a virtual monopoly (like the enterprise market).

I truly hope the Surface Book does well. I look forward to buying one when my beloved Fujitsu Lifebook eventually dies.

[dayglored]

> And the HoloLens demo would consist of watching Apple TV while you drive.

I shudder to think what would be on the TV...

[HamiltonJay]

The problem isn’t the hardware it’s that it’s stifled with windows as its OS.

[Redbob]

They stand a better chance of being tech’s new VW diesel...

[dayglored]

> The problem isn’t the hardware it’s that it’s stifled with windows as its OS.

You can always install Linux or some other OS (other than OS X) on it. I'm sure it would run quite well.

I believe ShadowAce made a comment once regarding Linux and Windows Service Packs...

[Swordmaker]

Here is the Microsoft Store's Page for the Surface Book. . . with pricing for each configuration. . . I was surprised at how high they went. They are more expensive than the equivalent level MacBook Pros.

The specs look good.

Microsoft Store — Surface Book

This is apparently the highest you can configure, CoreIntel i7 16GB with 512GB SSD, dGPU.
Compare to Apple 13" MacBook Pro Core Intel i7 with 16GB, with 1TB SSD,
with 2560 x 1600 retina display, same weight, more apps, no stylus, also $2699

[rarestia]

The problem isn’t the hardware it’s that it’s stifled with windows as its OS.

That's the beauty of the hardware. You can simply reformat and install the Appl... oh no, wait, you can't, because Apple's hardware/software is proprietary. That's right! But if I wanted to install Linux, I certainly could. Imagine that, a platform that's OS agnostic. What a time to be alive!

[adorno]

There are 20 times as many potential customers for the great new Surface products as there are for MacBooks and iPads.

While true about the numbers, it's not true about the rabid fanaticism that exists around anything related to Apple.

But, if the MS fan-base were to be as fanatical as the iZombies, then, Microsoft would have been a 2+ trillion dollar market cap company for many years.

[adorno]

And the HoloLens demo would consist of watching Apple TV while you drive.

I suppose that's a possibility. The Apple fanatics are known to worship all things Apple, and so, I don't doubt that, as they're driving and trying to watch Apple TV at the same time, they might decide to stray a bit and use Hololens at the same time.

But, you might have just given Microsoft an idea about including a TV watching experience in their Hololens. So, instead of the Hulu box or the Apple TV, a person would just put on their Hololens to watch Holo-TV. (MS, if you steal the idea, I want royalties).

[adorno]

The problem isn’t the hardware it’s that it’s stifled with windows as its OS.
Yeah, the same OS which will be in over a billion PCs and other devices within 3 years. What a problem!!!

It's also the same OS which OSX users need to install in order to get anything productive or value done. What a problem!!!

[tacticalogic]

But, you might have just given Microsoft an idea about including a TV watching experience in their Hololens. So, instead of the Hulu box or the Apple TV, a person would just put on their Hololens to watch Holo-TV. (MS, if you steal the idea, I want royalties).

If I gave them the idea, how come you get the royalties?

[adorno]

While no one disputes that Linux is a good OS, there is also no doubt that, it’s not ready for prime-time when it comes to the PC market, as demonstrated by the rejection of the OS by 99% of consumers for more than 20 years. But, keep trying; Linux might become the OS of choice after Windows and/or Microsoft drop dead, some 200 million years in the future.

[adorno]

If I gave them the idea, how come you get the royalties?

Because, I saw the idea within your comment. I also expanded on the idea, and gave some detail to it.

I'll let you have 1% of my royalties, and you can to fishing. ;)

BTW, I'm also the guy that MS stole the idea from for their hybrid Surface tablets and for their Continuum and their "one Windows everywhere and on every form-factor". I'm not certain the MS stole my ideas, but I find it interesting that, after I proposed the ideas in other discussion forums, that they appeared as finished products years later. I have another idea which could create another division for MS, and that too would, for certain, turn into another multi-billion dollar a year business for them. I'll keep that one for myself, for now, but I think it's something that's desperately needed in the news and information world.

[adorno]

BTW, watch for that Holo-TV to become reality in the not-too-distant future. Remember that I told you so.

[dayglored]

> While true about the numbers, it's not true about the rabid fanaticism that exists around anything related to Apple. But, if the MS fan-base were to be as fanatical as the iZombies, ...

But you see, Adorno, for the 5% or so of users for whom Apple stuff is the right choice, it works REALLY well. They love it because it works really well. Seriously -- it's not blind brand loyalty, it's loyalty because the stuff does what they want it to do, without a lot of hassle.

I know, I know, you can't conceive of Apple's brand loyalty being for actual reasons like "it works really well for {me}".

The point is, if Microsoft had ever done the extra work (that Apple, in general, did) to make sure their products were designed that well and worked that well, they too would have that kind of fanatical following, and they'd be a lot more successful that they are already.

Apple's fanatical fan base is a RESULT, not a CAUSE, of how the company does things. And Microsoft's user base opinion of that company is likewise a result, not a cause of how Microsoft does things.

I look forward to the MS fanbase picking up interest now that MS is doing great hardware. It's about time.

[tacticalogic]

When I first saw the HoloLens demo, my first thought was a HUD for people like tower crane operators, that would give them real-time data from position, load and strain sensors while never taking their eyes off the load.