3 ms·
> Microsoft is afraid to cross the chasm. It must become a hardware manufacturer to compete with iPad. Well, Microsoft as a company already crossed that chasm
by azakai 14y ago
> Microsoft is afraid to cross the chasm. It must become a hardware manufacturer to compete with iPad.
Well, Microsoft as a company already crossed that chasm with the XBOX (and Zune, if that matters). But yes, for the Windows section of Microsoft, that is a huge step to make.
- ams6110 14y agoOdd how the history played out. Mac OS X began as NeXT's OS (NEXTSTEP). When NeXT failed to get market traction with their high-end proprietary hardware/OS platform, they abandoned hardware and became a software/OS company. Microsoft already owned that space however. When NEXTSTEP the OS failed, they sold to Apple, became Mac OS X and later iOS, and went back to being a high-end proprietary hardware/OS platform. Microsoft however, long successful as a software company, is now facing the prospect of having to compete as a complete hardware/software platform, something they've never done, and something that Mac OS X (as NEXTSTEP) failed at previously. I guess it just shows that neither strategy is necessarily the "right" one. It's all about providing what the market wants, when it wants it.
- SlipperySlope 14y agoRight. Its interesting to consider the choices available to the incumbents given their respective legacies. Is Microsoft making a mistake by pricing its mobile OS bundle at a high $85? To what extent is that decision forced by their existing Windows franchise? I think that Microsoft is making a locally optimal decision, and cannot yet fully come to grips with the post-PC era.