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Additionally its important to remember that Apple was making money on the combination of in-house hw and in-house iOS and Android was pretty much being given aw
by somethoughts 4y ago
Additionally its important to remember that Apple was making money on the combination of in-house hw and in-house iOS and Android was pretty much being given away for free to handset vendors - in a "commoditize your compliment" strategy.
For Microsoft to be able to make any smartphone OS margins versus Android being given away for free, they'd have to be willing to cut margin expectations or overly invest to make a "knock it out of the park" OS.
- wolpoli 4y ago>For Microsoft to be able to make any smartphone OS margins versus Android being given away for free, they'd have to be willing to cut margin expectations or overly invest to make a "knock it out of the park" OS. If Microsoft was able to look beyond OS margins into potential advertising revenue or App store revenue, then they could have justified the investment. But hindsight is 20/20.
- somethoughts 4y agoI'd say it's important to remember in the 1990-2000's - its been documented that the bulk of their Windows OS capability was selling to corporations through enterprise sales and support channels. Windows OS for consumers was a bit of a pull through, tag along. Zune perhaps was the first consumer first product launch which was less than a success. Ballmer just wasn't a great customer facing guy. I think now (in the 2020's) they've put in a solid effort to shore up their cloud business and they have about a decade of experience with direct to consumer through Xbox and Satya Nadella seems more similar to Tim Cook in terms of leadership. It could be interesting if they seriously tried again in a commoditize your complement strategy - but perhaps that ship has sailed.