“For the past few years, conventional wisdom has been that the one company the consumer electronics (CE) industry needed to fear most was Microsoft. Bill Gates and his team have been eying the CE market for 15 years, and if you study their overall CE strategy, you see that it is to have some type of Windows environment on any and every digital device a consumer will use in the future. They have made major deals with cable companies, telecom vendors and even cell phone hand set makers like Motorola and HTC and are becoming even more aggressive in trying to make Windows based operating systems and user interfaces a key element of CE based products throughout the entire CE eco-system,” Tim Bajarin, Principal Analyst for Creative Strategies, writes for Technology Pundits.
“Indeed, all of their ‘consumer’ based products are aimed at bringing more and more people into the overall ‘Windows World’ and use that as a starting point for Microsoft to sell new CE based products and services in the future,” Bajarin writes. “While I do believe the CE folks need to have a healthy fear of Microsoft in order for them to compete on a somewhat even ground, the company they actually need to fear most is Apple Computer.”
“There is a very distinct difference in the way Microsoft and Apple are approaching the CE market. Microsoft’s way is to create a radical new platform, such as they did with the Media Center, and push it out to the market in a bold fashion in order to get people focused on the concept and then let the early adopters help them validate the platform. In the meantime, they keep working on evolving the actual Media Center platform and in typical Microsoft fashion, eventually get it right by the time they have version 4.0 or 5.0 on the market. On the other hand, Apple’s approach is very subtle and in a sense, delivers new features that help move consumers towards the Mac and related products in a more controlled and measured way, but with better results,” Bajarin writes. “Unlike Microsoft who developed the Media Center platform and thrust it on the market as a new concept that needed to be evangelized in order to get it accepted, Apple uses a more controlled approach by adding new features somewhat sporadically and gently brings the market along with them and before you know it, Apple has become a CE powerhouse in their own right.”
“By using this more subtle approach and gently moving the market towards a Mac world where everything is easy to use and works together seamlessly, Apple could become one of the most important, if not the most powerful CE company someday. And while Microsoft should still be feared by the CE folks, Apple could be the one company that gives them the most problems in the future,” Bajarin writes.
Full article here.
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Wow Yahoo Apple
give the most problems…or the most choices!!
totally off topic! What was the link that somone posted to the spoof video of the iPod butcher shop
MW-‘the’ ?!?!?!
In other words, Apple has a vertically-integrated syste (hardware, software and services) that screams quality and simply works well. That’s what the consumers ultimately look for. M$ thinks it’s better by simply flooding the marketplace with inferior products when all it really cares about is the income generated through licensing. I think that ultimately the CE industry hs found the M$ way of doing things is the wrong way.
Never warn your enemy that you are going to attack.
macaholic: Gizmodo has it. Bizarro iPod
http://www.gizmodo.com/images/bizzaro_ipod.mov
*zz … *r .. I meant
I believe that having a better interface, that is that the product/service is easier to use and configure is becoming the most important factor for success in the CE Market.
Examples of this is TiVo .vs. the VCR, the iPod & iTunes .vs. “the Killer ipods” even Philips new campaing which touts simplicity as an advantage.
Given that Apple stands in a much better position than Microsoft, IMHO.
Yeah, Apple better concentrate on the CE market, because they sure as hell can’t get more irrelevant in the business world. The iLife/iTunes client isn’t exactly compelling to most businesses.
Boy, How times have changed!!
<<and in typical Microsoft fashion, eventually get it right by the time they have version 4.0 or 5.0 on the market.>>
In a sense, Apple may be following MSFT’s lead. Think of it this way; MSFT jumps into a market that isn’t ready, with a product that isn’t ready, hypes the hell out of the product, then sets about morphing it into what the market actually wants.
Meanwhile, Apple watches with interest, all the while determining what it is that the market truly wants, then, without fanfare introduces pieces of the product (which all have hidden dual/triple functions) over an extended period of time, UNTIL….
..The market is ready to accept the new technology, at which time Apple brings all the pieces (each proven products) together as the new widget MSFT’s propaganda machine pumped 3 years earlier.
The difference is that Apple goes to market with a product that not only does what the market wants, it just plain works.
MSFT’s effort? After 3 or more years of beta testing MSFT’s “new, next great thing” consumers have tired of waiting for Redmond to deliver a viable solution, and flock to Apple’s “late” entry.
Being first to market is only important if you are first, and it works. This is MSFT’s ‘innovation’ weakness. What it comes down to is that, MSFT’s development process is fatally flawed.
Bill Gates is a smart kid with attention deficit disorder, and a cash cow that smooths over his lack of vision and focus. Unfortuantely, MSFT’s past mistakes have built up a huge backlog of consumer resentment.
i’ll take apple problems over microsoft problems any day. if they call seemless integration, low longterm cost of ownership, and beautiful design problems, i say bring it on.
mw “growth” as in i’d like to see more growth in this area.
The other aspect that the CE industry should fear about Apple is that unlike Microsoft, who only market software solutions, Apple will market both the hardware and software. With MS the CE industry was still left with the hardware – with Apple, unless you’re a partner (like Motorola or HP (was)), you will be fighting a totally integrated solution.
” . . . unlike Microsoft, who only market software solutions, Apple will market both the hardware and software. With MS the CE industry was still left with the hardware – with Apple, unless you’re a partner (like Motorola or HP (was)), you will be fighting a totally integrated solution.”
Great point. This is what makes Microsoft a problem and Apple a competitor. Apple is not a problem. Apple is a solution. A good competitor will also bring a solution to market.
And to Mr. Business Analyst, the business market is deader than a door nail. Microsoft has seen to that. Why to you think CE is where ALL of the industry is looking?
The CE industry should switch from their current offerings and create accessories for iPods instead.
Wow, an analyst who actually analyzes.
^Gregg Thurman is right. Microsoft’s past mistakes have built up an incredible well of resentment – and ohhhh, how saweeeet it is!
Gee, umm, I’m really, REALLY lookingforward to what Microsoft’s going to announce with their big, secretive California presentation coming up. No, really – I am! Because, how it can not be massively underwhelming – if not totally SUCK – is beyond me.
BOO!!!!!
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Fear leads to anger
Anger leads to hate
Hate leads to…
Sufferrrring..
Magic word: control
Having a base OS across all CE would be a good thing. There is no reason to FEAR anything. Apple will hopfully broaden out as much as Microsoft, but I doubt they will.
WinCE is certainly an apt abbreviation, if you’re Bill Gates.
Bad article. The writer just made it up as he went along. There is nothing sporadic about how Apple develops products.
Quote “Apple uses a more controlled approach by adding new features somewhat sporadically and gently brings the market along with them and before you know it, Apple has become a CE powerhouse in their own right.”
Wow, sounds kind of like Toyota, Chevy, Sony, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, etc…
Sounds like a business.
I have to say the last few months especially, the venom the PC world and the business world is going after Apple and the “fear” it make get more market. What’s with that. They praise Microsoft, but Apple – watch out world. It’s worse than politics. It’s a technology company folks.
Hey, has anyone thought this might be a covert tactic by MS to rally the consumer electronic industry against Apple.
We all know MS is trying to get it’s software as the defacto standard in CE and the CE industry is waking up to this fact. This would be a great way for MS to deflect the attention and get everyone against Apple and not MS.
Just a thought.
Apple’s got a plan around delivering digital content anytime, anywhere in revolutionary new ways (i.e., PVRs recording TV shows is so last century), and is positioning itself to sell the consumer devices (home, portable, pocketable) to enjoy that content. CE companies should beware, but Apple will only focus on the main processing devices, not the peripherals, i.e., speakers.
And since this is MDN, Apple also has a plan to deliver the computers, software, and services to create, manage, and deliver that digital content for both professionals and consumers.
Echoing the comment above, unlike Microsoft, Apple tends to wait until the necessary technology is available before making an easy-to-use product. The MC extenders using WiFi don’t cut it for good-quality video, which pushes the MCE PC into the living room, which doesn’t meet Apple’s mainstream consumer use case. The living room in most houses is about TV and video DVDs. So Apple is still waiting for 802.11n or something else along those lines, and for video content to take off. Windows PC tablets have a truly niche use case – Apple has a mainstream consumer use case waiting in the wings but it too awaits video content and Intel chips.
Today’s Front Row is just the next step to getting people to think of their computers as the repository of digital content which is acquired over the Internet (broadband, that’s why the modem just had to go). Front Row doesn’t provide TV recording because the idea is that you buy content from iTMS. And you don’t usually buy stuff via the TV display, you do it from your computer first. You only use the 10ft interface to playback or enjoy your content.
My prediction: The Mac mini with Front Row and iPod dock, the next generation Airport Express with video connections to a display, and a Front Row integrated with Bonjour capability, arrives next year, even possibly at MWSF in Jan.