4 ms·

Is it really about market share? The cool one is the one who innovates, the one who changes market landscapes. Apple does that. Microsoft doesn't. Microsoft sho

Is it really about market share? The cool one is the one who innovates, the one who changes market landscapes. Apple does that. Microsoft doesn't. Microsoft shouldn't worry about gaining the rest 10% of the OS share. They should worry about why they aren't innovative.

jherdman 17y ago
Agreed. My thoughts were more or less along the lines of developer mind-share. Though MS has some interesting things, the vast majority of developers producing the cool things are leaving MS in their past. OS X and Linux, on the other hand, _are_ gaining traction -- if not accelerating -- with respect to developer mind-share.
zaidf 17y ago
Is it really about market share? Yes. Getting market share means you've a product that lots of people want and you've figured out a way to get it to them. Just because Microsoft does not fit in your narrow definition of innovation does not mean that they are not innovative. The cool one is the one who innovates Yes, but the cool one is not usually the most successful business. If anything, Apple's learned that over its history. For the longest time it innovated great cool things that Microsoft would copy and sell it better while after the innovation phase, Apple would crumble. Since the iPod things have been looking up but geez, Apple has a longtime to go before it can compare itself to Microsoft. Talking about innovation, don't even get me going about Apple's treatment of developers versus Microsoft's. Hint: innovation is a lot more than building cool technology in your secret lab.
- mikeryan 17y ago
  Where this gets sticky is in defining the Market your stake is in. Microsoft obviously competes in the entire PC market but its fairly obvious that Apple is really only taking on the high end. This way both win, Apple owns the over $1000 market and Microsoft wins the overall share. Its just investor spin.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- jimbokun 17y ago
  "but geez, Apple has a longtime to go before it can compare itself to Microsoft." According to Google Finance, in the last available quarterly results for each company Microsoft had about $13B revenue with $3B net income, Apple had about $8.3B revenue with $1.3B net income. And Apple has been growing faster (Microsoft's income went down year over year last quarter, for the first time in their history I believe). So, yes, I think you can compare them. Microsoft is still bigger with more profits, but with Apple growing faster you can make a case it is the better stock to own.
- RyanMcGreal 17y ago
  It always makes me scratch my head when people who complain about Microsoft's anticompetitive practices, proprietary lock-in, and so on then jump ship to ... Apple.
jsz0 17y ago
It's too late for either company to really change how they do business. Apple has always cultivated a user base that accepts the changes required for the evolution of hardware and software platforms. They've created a great environment for innovation. The PC industry has largely gone the other direction. Embracing a kind of technical creationism. God created the start menu and it was good. God created the taskbar and it was good. A significant number of people only know the one true faith of computers and they shackle Microsoft's ability to innovate. It will be interesting to see how the mainstream reacts to the Dock in Windows 7 since it's probably the single most significant user interface change Microsoft has made in the last 15 years.
tybris 17y ago
Time for economics 101? EVERYTHING is about market share.

jherdman 17y ago

Agreed. My thoughts were more or less along the lines of developer mind-share. Though MS has some interesting things, the vast majority of developers producing the cool things are leaving MS in their past. OS X and Linux, on the other hand, _are_ gaining traction -- if not accelerating -- with respect to developer mind-share.

zaidf 17y ago

Is it really about market share? Yes. Getting market share means you've a product that lots of people want and you've figured out a way to get it to them. Just because Microsoft does not fit in your narrow definition of innovation does not mean that they are not innovative. The cool one is the one who innovates Yes, but the cool one is not usually the most successful business. If anything, Apple's learned that over its history. For the longest time it innovated great cool things that Microsoft would copy and sell it better while after the innovation phase, Apple would crumble. Since the iPod things have been looking up but geez, Apple has a longtime to go before it can compare itself to Microsoft. Talking about innovation, don't even get me going about Apple's treatment of developers versus Microsoft's. Hint: innovation is a lot more than building cool technology in your secret lab.

mikeryan 17y ago
Where this gets sticky is in defining the Market your stake is in. Microsoft obviously competes in the entire PC market but its fairly obvious that Apple is really only taking on the high end. This way both win, Apple owns the over $1000 market and Microsoft wins the overall share. Its just investor spin.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
jimbokun 17y ago
"but geez, Apple has a longtime to go before it can compare itself to Microsoft." According to Google Finance, in the last available quarterly results for each company Microsoft had about $13B revenue with $3B net income, Apple had about $8.3B revenue with $1.3B net income. And Apple has been growing faster (Microsoft's income went down year over year last quarter, for the first time in their history I believe). So, yes, I think you can compare them. Microsoft is still bigger with more profits, but with Apple growing faster you can make a case it is the better stock to own.
RyanMcGreal 17y ago
It always makes me scratch my head when people who complain about Microsoft's anticompetitive practices, proprietary lock-in, and so on then jump ship to ... Apple.

jsz0 17y ago

It's too late for either company to really change how they do business. Apple has always cultivated a user base that accepts the changes required for the evolution of hardware and software platforms. They've created a great environment for innovation. The PC industry has largely gone the other direction. Embracing a kind of technical creationism. God created the start menu and it was good. God created the taskbar and it was good. A significant number of people only know the one true faith of computers and they shackle Microsoft's ability to innovate. It will be interesting to see how the mainstream reacts to the Dock in Windows 7 since it's probably the single most significant user interface change Microsoft has made in the last 15 years.

tybris 17y ago

Time for economics 101? EVERYTHING is about market share.