“With the iPhone released and selling like hot cakes across the nation, people are speculating excitedly over how many units Apple and AT&T have actually sold to date. One group of people who’s speculating over that not so excitedly is Microsoft, who from day 1 since the iPhone’s announcement in January have shown tremendous fear — but not on the surface,” Carl Howe writes for Blackfriars’ Marketing.
“It all started with Steve Ballmer’s response to the iPhone on CNBC-TV [back in January],” Howe writes.
Howe then deconstructs the following video in which Microsoft CEO Ballmer laughs at Apple iPhone:
Howe writes, “What’s really telling of Ballmer’s response is his typically somewhat-nervous laugh: as CEO of Microsoft, he knew best of all people how serious a threat the iPhone was to them… Ballmer states ‘[Microsoft] is selling millions and millions and millions of phones a year, Apple is selling zero phones a year’ (remember, this was January 17th). Millions and millions and millions — that sounds about right, given Microsoft’s roughly 0.4% market share in the worldwide cellphone industry.”
“Microsoft has about 5.6% market share in smartphones, which is a mere 6-7% slice of the overall cellphone industry. Translation: they sold about 4 million cellphones running Windows Mobile (any version) in 2006… It’s fairly safe to say that there are only, in total, no more than 7 million Windows Mobile phones in the world,” Howe explains. “Apple’s stated 10 million goal seems a lot more aggressive already.”
How writes, “Yet, the real kicker is what the iPhone really is: a fierce attack on many industries, companies and platforms. Above all, though, the iPhone is an attack on proprietary formats, one of Microsoft’s core competencies.”
The iPhone attacks:
• The cellphone industry at large.
• Companies ranging from carriers to handset makers to OS makers to Opera.
• Proprietary codecs.
Howe explains that Apple’s iPhone is “also the first real threat to Microsoft from a desktop point of view: Linux-based cellphones (about 17% of all smartphones) weren’t really convincing people to leave Windows behind and switch to Linux, but the iPhone may very well convince people to switch to a Mac.”
Full article – very highly recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MacVicta” for the heads up.]
Howe concisely nails many points in his excellent article. Please click through and read his full article.
Note to MDN: They could care less!!!!
> Ballmer states ‘[Microsoft] is selling millions and millions and millions of phones a year
Really? I didn’t think Microsoft sold ANY phones at all.
Once again, this is Apple’s advantage. Microsoft sells the OS, which needs to be integrated with other companies’ hardware. Apple controls the whole device. That’s why iPhone is so much better; and that’s why Microsoft fears iPhone. On consumer devices like iPod and iPhone, the integration of hardware and software is a much greater advantage than on computers.
In other words, Dont Think Before You Click™?
Just how well are hotcakes selling anyway?
DC,
Yes, they could care less because they care so damned much. The iPhone is not just a threat to Windows Mobile or other carriers. It’s a threat to Internet Explorer, and after that, Windows desktop. Once Microsoft starts losing desktop market share, it’s all over but the crying.
Haven’t used a Mac, have you? Ok, maybe you mean from a marketing perspective, but that’s only because IT departments fear the Mac – which is why they fear the iPhone.
Just how well are hotcakes selling anyway?
The whole industry is a sticky mess. It should flip any day once the boards are grilled and restacked.
“Just how well are hotcakes selling anyway?”
iHop isn’t releasing any sales figures from this past weekend, but maple syrup manufactures said they have sold millions of bottles of syrup since the introduction of the iPhone.
Haven’t used a Mac, have you? Ok, maybe you mean from a marketing perspective, but that’s only because IT departments fear the Mac – which is why they fear the iPhone.
Which IT departments are you talking about? IT at my company has no such fears. Our shop is mostly Mac at the desktop level, and split between Mac, WIndows, Sun and Linux at the server level.
We use the best products for the job at hand, and no, Apple isn’t always the best supplier for every need we have. Our biggest issues right now are Apple’s lack of enterprise support experience. Dell does a far better job of supporting their products, regardless of what OS is installed. I wish Apple were better, but it is what it is at the moment.
“competencies” and “Microsoft” should never be used in the same sentence.
I’ll wait for HotCakes rev 2.0. The first versions are all ways bug-ridden.
Microsoft has such a huge market share they don’t care or are scared about the iPhone or Mac OS X. They probably should be. I’m a Mac user and hate anything Microsoft but the fact is this war that Apple fanbois are waging against Microsoft is one that Microsoft refuses to acknowledge they don’t need to right now, which could in a very very long time be their demise.
No iMacs available for low-volume resellers in the UK through either of Apple’s distributors.
I have two on back-order for a customer which are currently have ETAs of 3rd August.
Hmmmm…
@ (no one)
“I’m a Mac user and hate anything Microsoft but the fact is this war that Apple fanbois are waging against Microsoft is one that Microsoft refuses to acknowledge they don’t need to right now, which could in a very very long time be their demise.”
The industry is changing. People aren’t just replacing their desktop PCs the way they used to – the new growth vector will be in mobiles and other new kinds of hardware applications. The desktop era is dead and gone as far as growth is concerned. Microsoft knows this, that’s why the iPhone matters SO VERY MUCH to them, and it’s the device they have to beat. So far, they can’t even come close.
Their Great White Hope might have been the Moto Q, as Ballmer points out. But if it was, they better take a look at plan B, because Moto Q sales are laughably miniscule compared to iPhone sales so far. It took a month to sell 150,000 Q’s. iPhone is, by ANY estimate, crushing that number into fine paste.
Whoever creates the first smart phone that doesn’t suck, they’re gonna sell gajillions of ’em (1 Gajillion = 1,000 Bazillions), just like Apple did when they created the first media player that didn’t suck.
This is already happening, and, delightfully, Microsoft has no way to stop it.
-c
Chrissy
Thanks for clearing up the units of measure. I always wondered what units a Gazillion broke down into.
The iPhone is an attack on MS Exchange.
Either IT opens their Exchange Servers to iPhones via IMAP4 support or adopt open Mail systems. Once they do so, Outlook is also replaced with open systems. After this, file sharing and print sharing are easy. This is a plan, but near impossible to execute. Exchange needs to be made redundant.
Microsoft has 0.4% market share so that’s 4 million phones they supply the OS for per year. Apple will surpass 4 million easily in America alone. Factor in Europe and Asia and there is scope for huge sales. Apple makes the whole phone so the profit margin is huge compared to Microsoft’s cut of the WiMo phones. Also Apple gets money back for subscribers, accessories and iTMS sales as well. I like our strategy, I like it a lot!
> Haven’t used a Mac, have you?
I think you misunderstand my point. I only use Macs these days, and I love it. My point is that on computers, Microsoft can get away with Windows being “generic.” And PC makers can get away with making generic hardware to run a generic OS, and competing based mostly on price tag. Apple is gaining ground because Macs are better, but the others will certainly survive and maintain their “majority” platform.
But on a consumer handheld device, customers will not stand for poor software and hardware integration. Apple’s iPhone is so superior that it can take over the “smart phone” market over the next few years.
Microsoft can do nothing about it but watch and deny, because it doesn’t control the hardware. If it tries to “do a Zune” with a mobile phone, they will fail because they it “did a Zune.” To save time, the Zune Phone will just be a contracted device made by a “Toshiba” running a modified version of Windows Mobile. And all of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile “partners” will be ticked off.
We are truly witnessing history. It started with the iPod in October 2001, continued with the Macs switching to Intel processors beginning in January 2006, and went into overdrive with the release of the iPhone in June 2007. 5-10 years from now the entire marketplace will be vastly different, and people then won’t believe that Microsoft had such total control of everything prior to 2001, only to see virtually all of it slip away over a 10-15 year period. Those that have Macs, iPods and/or iPhones today are ahead of the curve. Many millions more will follow in the next 5-10 years.
“Maintenance to Mr Ballmer’s office CODE RED repeat CODE RED!”
iPhone Nano rumours.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&WTmodLOC=C3-News-2&symbol=AAPL.O&storyID=2007-07-09T203353Z_01_N09293722_RTRIDST_0_APPLE-NANOPHONE.XML&type=qcna
No Exchange admin is opening up IMAP so a few iPhone users can use their half-baked excuse for a mail app to get their mail when a $200 Blackberry does it perfectly.
What Apple needs to do is get on their knees and beg RIM for a version of Blackberry Connect that runs on the iPhone.
IMAP is not a freaking solution to syncing mail, calendars and contacts. The iPhone is a step backwards for those crucial applications, what about this do you people not understand?
to CNBC RE: iPhone:
“$500!!! Its the most expensive phone in the world and its not a smartphone. Uh, no, no; it may sell, I don’t know. Uh, they have their strategy and we have ours.”
to myself RE: iPhone:
“Why don’t we have something like that?!! I didn’t think I would see anything like it for another 5 years, at least. $500? That’s not bad!”
I thought very carefully and decided…
…to stick with my Razr and get a 15″ MacBook Pro instead of a iPhone.
The iPhone does indeed “bleed” into other areas, not really doing anything useful equally to the level of a laptop.
A iPhone needs frequent synching to a computer anyway!! Synching is a very annoying and time consuming process to me.
Hopefully in the future there will be a iPhone that can virtually replace a laptop, but right now it’s not even close.
Perhaps Apple should come out with a 12″ laptop/iPhone? Close it and the cover placed next to the head to make calls?
Open the cover and with buillt in cam hold iChat video conferences over 3G?
Now we are talking a real useful tool!!
“Open the cover and with buillt in cam hold iChat video conferences over 3G?”
I get a lot of use out of my iPhone, but I completely agree with the coolitude of this idea.
@Road Warrior
Good decision. The iPhone can not replace a MacBook Pro. No way no how. It can, however, save you the trouble of carrying that MB during those times when all you really want is web and email access while away from home or office.