“It has been a bumper year for the California-based [Apple]. More than three billion songs had been bought through the iTunes music store since 2001, and that 110 million iPods have been sold worldwide,” The Telegraph reports.
“Apple sustained the momentum by increasing the capacity of its iPod range, giving it a facelift, adding a new selection of pastel-coloured iPod shuffles, and introducing video-playback to a thinner, squatter iPod nano. Oh, and it launched a mobile phone,” The Telegraph reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Not-so-minor omission: Apple also released the iPod touch.
The telegraph continues, “In all the brouhaha surrounding the iPhone launch, it would be easy to miss one of Apple’s biggest successes this year – the upsurge in sales of its computers. Apple shipped more than two million Macs between July and September this year alone, a 34 per cent increase on those months last year… If Apple’s rise continues, it may soon be able to think about posing a more serious threat to Microsoft’s dominance.”
“Bill Gates’s company seems to have been caught napping, failing to get to grips with a consumer demand for flair, innovation and beautiful design,” The Telegraph reports. “But more worrying for Microsoft will be the backlash against its latest operating system, Vista, released in January. Its snazzy new graphical interface wasn’t enough to win over many consumers. Vista makes heavy demands of computers, and lots of people found it sluggish and bloated. Such was the lack of interest that Dell began to offer computers preloaded with the older operating system, Windows XP, as an alternative.”
The Telegraph’s Best of 2007: Apple iPhone – While there is definitely room for improvement, its intuitive interface and stunning good looks have set the standard that all future mobile phones will be judged by.
The Telegraph’s Worst of 2007: Windows Vista – While it’s lovely to look at, this operating system can feel sluggish. It has perhaps shaken consumer confidence in the Microsoft brand, and goes some way towards explaining why Apple’s star is in the ascendancy.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
Slowly they awaken.
What a great title… a double entendre on “Microsoft” as it wilts, becoming impotent….
Maybe it needs some of that Viagra that so many spams go on about, spams sent mostly by compromised Windows zombie machines.
I would like to know what the consumer market share is for OS’s.
Reviews often lump business and consumer market hare numbers together.
I bet Mac is making some important inroads in the consumer realm.
Business is too political and has different influences, cheap and works are simply what is wanted in IT.
At home you want something nice to work and play on.
Enjoying my blacbook, not going to be happy if an aluminum 13″ gunmetal, slim macbook is released in January, ARGGGH!
Innovation is not in M$ DNA. It will take years to change their corporate culture.
By the time any real changes emerge, AAPL will be light years ahead. This is truly the beginning of the downfall for M$.
The Telegraph can’t be serious. Another Apple puff piece for morons who don’t know any better.
The only thing they got right was to mention Windows Vista’s “snazzy new graphical interface” is “lovely to look at.” So true. Vista is a work of art and it belongs in a museum. I’m basking in the warm glow of Vista right now, rocking the Aero interface on a Dell and it’s fantastic—from the window and dialog box transparency to the drop shadows. Beautifully rendered stuff. You’d think Crapple with their “Pro” apps background could do the same with their OS. Microsoft is at the top of their game and Apple should be scared. Suck it, MAC sheep.
Your potential. Our passion.™
@ ZT
I bought you a hammer for Christmas. Where do I send it?
Yep microsoft is on a downward spiral.
Anyone remember the ‘origami’ device they launch such bombed bibig time? It was supposed to be the ultimate handheld device, well it sucked.
I just wish I bought Apple stock in the 1990s when Sj returned to Apple, it was selling for $24 a share.
MDN is also “sluggish and bloated”.
I still have not seen any good explanation of why the screen Steve put in the Touch is inferior to the one he put in the phone.
My conclusion is he believes it causes a potential Touch purchaser to buy a phone instead. Wouldn’t that be just like him to do that? And, I’m sure that still another genius marketing ploy has succeed as they always do.
Prediction: when the new gen phone is introduced next month, we will also hear a breathless announcement about the sudden, dramatic improvement in the resolution of the Touch screen. “Wow! Look what we’ve done for you. The new Touch ships tomorrow! And, if he’s honest will also say: “because we’ve had these things stored in our Chinese warehouses for months now and we need to get them to you.”
Result: lots of early adopters of Touch will then own two and paid more for them than the phone would have cost but instead of being turned off by the manipulation, they will just be pleased that Cupertino had a “breakthrough” in new technology and made the Touch look as good as the phone.
What suckers we all are.
The wheels of justice turn slowly.
But for Microsoft getting its just desserts, the wheels are certainly turning.
The end of MS dominance is inexorable.
Die Microsoft, die.
“Innovation is not in M$ DNA”
DNA. As in ‘Does Not Apply’.
They mentioned “Joost”
as an AppleTV owner, I would love to see that offered, they have a lot of good stuff on Joost, but I want to watch on my television, not my iMac
If Vista shook the confidence in Microsoft’s brand, what did millions of Windows XP virus infections do?
How about well over 1/3 of all Xbox 360s dying on eager gamers? Did that hurt the Microsoft brand?
How about Microsoft being a convicted monopolist? Did that take any shine off?
There are many reasons we are Apple fan-boys. The biggest one is Microsoft’s incompetence.
@ Wang-A-Lang-A-Ding-Dong
You like dudes?
If Vista shook the confidence in Microsoft’s brand, what did millions of Windows XP virus infections do?
Remember, Vista was supposed to fix everything, MS’s golden “we finally got it right” OS. MS failed to deliver, spectacularly. That’s the Magnitude 10 shake in confidence, the final straw.
MS’s announcement that they’re already working on Vista’s successor, Vienna, is almost as bad as Vista itself. The market isn’t going to wait for another pipe dream of empty promises.
To those who watch, this has been apparent for years.
Innovation is in Apple’s DNA… from their first home-built computer, to the Macintosh, to the iPhone. Apple had ups and downs, but they ALWAYS innovated.
Microsoft grew out of a combination of craftiness and ruthlessness. To WIN was their goal. Winning above ALL.
You can’t win forever.
The Mac and Mac OS was ALWAYS years ahead of anything churned out by MS. When I read comments about how crappy Mac OS 9 was… compared to what? Tiger? Okay. But Windows 95 or 98 or XP? LOL! Sure, OS 9 could be a bit finnicky, but it worked well. CLEARLY these are people who didn’t or NEVER used it.
There’s one thing that’s forgotten. Steve Jobs lost a few times… being booted out of Apple, the failure of NeXT in the marketplace… and he LEARNED from it.
Microsoft never lost. But then, after they signed that first contract with IBM they never really learned to compete and certainly not on level ground.
Crush or starve the competition? Sure.
Strong arm your “partners”? Sure.
Keep products afloat on rivers of cash? Sure. But is that competing.?
os 9… compared to win9x? realistically, that’s a bit tough. os 9 from my experience was much more stable than 9x, but 9x had one thing going for it that os 9 didn’t – real multitasking. it also had better developer support (firefox 2 still runs on windows 98, and even win95 with a few updates – and i realize this isn’t an inherit flaw with the os itself, but it still matters at the user end that i’d be stuck with netscape 7 or ie 5), and os 9 didn’t have the option of opening folders within the same window unless you were in list view. even so, os 9 looked a lot nicer and was quite a bit more stable… but that wouldn’t have been enough to switch me back then. os x came around and changed everything, and i haven’t looked back since. just thought i’d throw my experience with the two out there. =)
I never thought small and flaccid was a good name for a company.
Hey ZT,
Even Windows users hate Vista. Read about this “upgrade.”
Last night I upgraded my Vista desktop machine to Windows XP
Also from that article: “…the iTunes store has only a limited range of TV shows and films – and they’re over-priced.”
Huh? I thought NBC/Universal et al said they were too cheap!
Who’s the greedy one, eh?
So glad to see you back!
Signed,
A fellow Mac lover.
It’s not Microsoft’s “failing to get to grips with a consumer demand for flair, innovation and beautiful design,” it’s their TOTAL inability—at the highest levels—of truly appreciating class and style and being able to recognize it when it’s staring them in the face. If a technical company doesn’t have strong leadership that “knows” class and demands it of everyone who helps develop their technology, then their products quickly suffer from “too many chefs in the kitchen”-syndrome.
Microsoft sucks because Bill Gates (in my opinion) is more ruthless than creative, and Steve Ballmer is nothing more than Europeans’ stereotype of your typical, semi-educated, has-no-class, ultra-aggressive, neanderthal U.S. CEO (in my opinion).
And after reading this story, the Microsoft execs are crying all the way to the bank.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
I guess that is not one remark to be welcomed at the Redmond campus this Christmas!!!
Thanks Realist. I was walking around in a blind daze before you showed up. Thanks for showing me the light.
I’ll be spending the rest of my day smashing all my Apple products and creating anti-Apple websites.
I agree Vista is indeed a museum piece, set right alongside Charles Babbage’s Analytical Machine which though half finished seems to have been rather more complete and polished than its slightly newer competitor. It certainly gains a better press, but then it was ahead of its time when it was built.
The flower on my lapelle does not wilt.
It squirts!
Greg L, Microsoft understands, class elegance, design principals, and how to capture an audience. To think you would compare the two makes me ill. J Allard is the new Ive.
Shepherd jobs took the sheep for a ride with the touch screen. No one wants it, it’s a bland copy of Win Mobile.
Just wait until the next revolution, Vienna, comes out. Then you will see greatness.
Good for you Macromancer. Once you break the spell of Apple. you will truly see the light.
PROUD TO BE BRITISH!! (for a change). I have noticed a big move at the Telegraph to becoming Apple friendly. Claudine Beaumont has been writing great stuff that has been free of MS influences and honestly talking about Macs, iPods and iPhone.
I was Christmas shopping today in the Telegraph readers favourite store: John Lewis, where their Apple Store within a Store is really excellent. They have always been loyal resellers of Apple products and no doubt Apple have treated them well.
Apple in the UK will be great again in 2008!
Although the thought of Microsloth wilting sounds like a good thing, that just impossible. Sad to say that as long as the Monopoly is approved to exist, they will never run out of funds to continue their business.
I’m not up on my Chinese astrology, but I think that 2008 is the Year of the Apple.
I totally agree that Apple’s recent and continuing gains in market share for Mac OS X is as much due to the failure of WIndows Vista as it is to the excellence of the Mac using experience.
With no replacement for Vista expected for at least five years, every PC maker except Apple will be forced to offer it. Soon, even Windows XP will not be an option. That means good times will continue for Apple.
This is no surprise. Melissa Gates found out on her wedding night where Bill got the name for his company.
“The end of MS dominance is inexorable.”
Yes, at current growth rates Apple will have overtaken Microsoft within a hundred years or so.
I only come here to see the names.
“I totally agree that Apple’s recent and continuing gains in market share for Mac OS X is as much due to the failure of WIndows Vista as it is to the excellence of the Mac using experience.”
Except that there are already more Vista users in the world than all Mac users combined, so your comment doesnt really make sense since Vista is already much more popular than Mac OS X.
There might be more Vista users out there (by default) but I highly doubt that it’s more popular. It sure isn’t to the poor saps I know who have it.
The iTMS lauched on April 28, 2003. Not in 2001.
Hello Thorin !
“There might be more Vista users out there (by default) but I highly doubt that it’s more popular.”
Well that’s just not true. Corporations are not deploying Vista widely yet, so almost every Vista machine is the result of the conscious choice of a consumer to buy one. If it were really that bad, people would be flocking to Macs instead of buying Vista machines in ever increasing quantities.
If a technical company doesn’t have strong leadership that “knows” class and demands it of everyone who helps develop their technology, then their products quickly suffer from “too many chefs in the kitchen”-syndrome.
Which begs the question: What happens when Steve Jobs leaves?
Apple’s board is waaay smart enough to NOT put a complete clown like Ballmer in charge. But is there anyone, anywhere, comparable to Jobs? And not just a mini-me either; someone with their own ideas, and the ability to spot & perfect a winner?
MS may be all fsked up, but that doesn’t mean Apple should get complacent or sloppy on top.
If it were really that bad, people would be flocking to Macs instead of buying Vista machines in ever increasing quantities.
You are correct. Never underestimate the uninformed masses.
That’s a load of crap. The majority of people don’t even know what the heck an operating system IS. They just know it’s a computer. They go to Wal-Mart or order a Dell and follow the expert advise of “Dell Recommends Windows Vista Ultimate” or some other bullshit propaganda. It’s when they get the the thing home that they realize they’ve been screwed. I helped a guy I work with set up his new Dell with Vista and it was a friggin’ nightmare. I warned him to get XP but he wouldn’t listen. After all this he says he will go Mac next time. Another guy has it and after 5 months it will barely function. I have two PCs (one I built) with XP and use it at work so I don’t have a problem, other than the fact that it’s such a dysfunctional pile of code. But I sure wouldn’t buy Vista. More people don’t buy Macs because they are sadly influenced by clowns like you. They don’t know what ‘bad’ is because they haven’t used ‘good’ in order to see the difference. But it’s coming. And that is what your kind fear.
“follow the expert advise of “Dell Recommends Windows Vista Ultimate” or some other bullshit propaganda. It’s when they get the the thing home that they realize they’ve been screwed.”
Ha Ha Yes, you’re right. the probably thought they were buying a Mac but brought a Dell by mistake. It’s an easy mistake for a novice to make since PCs and Macs are both now exactly the same hardware built in exactly the same factories and Apple’s biggest recent selling point is how well Macs run Windows.
“And that is what your kind fear.”
Sure, believe that if you want. What your kind fear is the truth that Vista has already overwhelmed Leopard, and Leopard will be just as ineffective at displacing Microsoft as Tiger was.
As long as they can operate as a monopoly Apple will never catch up. No one will ever catch up. Why do you think they keep trying to tie in all they junk with Windows or technologies they produced based on Windows. Video and Audio is just a matter of time. They can be patient because they can continue to lose millions withot worry. Its nice to have unlimited funding to continue money losing business in order to eventually saturate the market with their junk.
Who’s Melissa Gates?
“and Apple’s biggest recent selling point is how well Macs run Windows.” Yeah dimwit, but maybe you haven’t noticed that Macs come with OS X installed, not Windows. That is why they are superior. And that is why Apple will prevail. Now why don’t you kids go back to playing your video games or squeezing your zits and leave the adults in peace.
Hey, folks, ZT was right:
“Vista is a work of art and it belongs in a museum.”
But not on a computer!
Hey C1! Here ya go:
http://www.daoiststudies.org/scholars.php?cmd=list&userid=822
Hello LorD1776, I look at this site every day, I don’t post as much because some of the postings have gotten so damn silly. The registration thing did help though. Your post was pretty right on, so I quoted it.
“That’s a load of crap. The majority of people don’t even know what the heck an operating system IS. They just know it’s a computer. They go to Wal-Mart or order a Dell and follow the expert advise of “Dell Recommends Windows Vista Ultimate” or some other bullshit propaganda. It’s when they get the the thing home that they realize they’ve been screwed. I helped a guy I work with set up his new Dell with Vista and it was a friggin’ nightmare. I warned him to get XP but he wouldn’t listen. After all this he says he will go Mac next time. Another guy has it and after 5 months it will barely function. I have two PCs (one I built) with XP and use it at work so I don’t have a problem, other than the fact that it’s such a dysfunctional pile of code. But I sure wouldn’t buy Vista. More people don’t buy Macs because they are sadly influenced by clowns like you. They don’t know what ‘bad’ is because they haven’t used ‘good’ in order to see the difference. But it’s coming. And that is what your kind fear.”
Thorin,
I was looking at some old articles today and saw this one from about a year and a half ago that you posted on. I was wondering what happened to you and then I saw you here. A happy coincidence.
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/10219/
@ Ampar
*$%&@#’n Unitarians…
“so almost every Vista machine is the result of the conscious choice of a consumer to buy one”
a conscious choice to buy a computer, yes, Vista, no.
i have worked with people who told me their OS was office for XP or internet explorer. most people have no clue at all what they are buying or running. i installed linux mandrake (years ago) over win98 and the only comment the lab users made was that the new version of windows i had installed was much faster.
ignorance is not always bliss….
Unitarians! Wow, I never heard of these people. Sounds like they believe in everything and nothing. ChrissyOne, have you ever considered becoming a nun? It might just be your calling.
my goodness Zune Tang has returned and has brought all of his M$ crap with him!
@ LorD1776
For some reason they don’t let atheists become nuns. Go figure.
“a conscious choice to buy a computer, yes, Vista, no.”
Sure, they just blunder into an electronics store and buy the first thing they see with a screen and a keyboard. And they repeat his behavior decade after decade.
“maybe you haven’t noticed that Macs come with OS X installed, not Windows.”
Yes but within a day or two of purchase most are running Windows under Parallels or Boot Camp. The VistaMac is not far away from launch.
“As long as they can operate as a monopoly Apple will never catch up. “
You’re correct, as long as Apple keeps a monopoly on OS X, they will never catch up. Their only hope to become the new Microsoft is to license the OS. Otherwise they will remain a small player with 3% worldwide share.
“Their only hope to become the new Microsoft is to license the OS. Otherwise they will remain a small player with 3% worldwide share.”
Alex, I’ll take Tired Old Saws for $1000…
last saturday i switched to MAC.
using a PC requires work. using a MAC means you get to play.
MDN was a factor in me deciding to switch – thanx.
Apple sustained the momentum by increasing the capacity of its iPod range..
Now only if they would increase the range of their computer line the world would be happy. Glossy only screens sell to the ignorant noobs, but experienced folks know it causes severe eye strain.
@pete1967: “I just wish I bought Apple stock in the 1990s when Sj returned to Apple, it was selling for $24 a share.”
I bought it at $7.49 in 2003. I’m showing a profit of about 60% since July of this year. It’s never too late to get aboard.
ChrissyOne,
Well I wouldn’t bet on that nowadays. I remember reading an article back in the 80’s where someone was surveying students at a seminary (I think Roman Catholic, but not sure now) and many of them said they didn’t believe in Jesus. The denomination doesn’t matter. Anymore it’s just another occupation. In many cases a very lucrative occupation. It doesn’t seem to matter what you believe, but what you profess to believe. Unfortunately, over the centuries religion and God have gotten the bad rap for those kind of self serving people. Religion (along with everything else) would work just fine if people weren’t involved. We really aren’t a very worthy species, sorry to say. I’m not an atheist, but I can understand why people are, with the world the way it is. All you can do is keep on keepin’ on.
@ To MDN
And, you know, it’s just plain mean.
I wish you luck with that. But I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Geez Pete, you and your glossy screen whining makes me think Zune Tang ain’t all bad. And that’s not good.
@ LorD1776
I personally think that the high-ups in the church really don’t buy it at all. Ask Mother Teresa. Once you get so high up in the machine, I think you start to figure out what it’s all about – exploiting people’s need for spirituality to consolidate power. I don’t think the average pope believes a word of it.
So maybe I could be pope…
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Wait until Apple hits the 200 million mark for sold ipods a year from now. What an amazing number of sold devices that will be.
Anyone think the iphone mini will be out in January?
“Wait until Apple hits the 200 million mark for sold ipods a year from now. What an amazing number of sold devices that will be.”
Yes, it’ll be about the same number of iPods as new Vista PCs sold by then.
ChrissyOne,
There ya go! Think positive! You’d get to wear a lot of fancy duds, that’s for sure.
“I’ll take Tired Old Saws “
Try taking Business 101 instead. No one vendor dominates the PC hardware market. Nor will Apple change that. The best that they can hope for if they want a Microsoft sized share of the OS market is to sell to those hardware vendors. Getting 94% share of worldwide PC hardware sales isn’t going to happen for Dell, nor for HP, nor for Apple, nor for anyone else.
@ Fn Obvious
You’re missing the point. MS is a one hit wonder. They created a business model that will never happen again. No company should ever have that much market control, and when they loose theirs, Apple, nor anyone, will take over. The market will change. That much is obvious.
He sure likes that “nor” word.
@ LorD1776
Yeah, but I’m not really a hat person…
“In many cases a very lucrative occupation.”
It’s also the one occupation in which you can continually molest children and your bosses and the victim’s parents will cover it up for you rather than tar you, feather you and ride you out of town on a rail.
It’s also one of the few occupations other than those which involve using Adobe products on a Mac where more of your workmates are gay than are not.
“MS is a one hit wonder. “
What’s that one hit? DOS 1 1o 6? Win 3.x? Win95? Win98? Win2000? WinXP? Vista? Word? Excel? Exchange? Outlook? Internet Explorer? Powerpoint? Windows Server editions? Halo? The list could just keep going.
Each of those had competition in their categories.
Seems to me they’ve introduced dozens of products which dominate their markets at the time.
What was Apple’s last product like that? the iPod? and before that the Apple II?
ChrissyOne,
Yeah, those rigs aren’t very sexy, are they.
Molesti,
I’m not going there dude.
But on a happy note:
Holy Crap! The Spice Girls are back together!
@ LorD1776
I wouldn’t be Pope, but if the job of “Posh Spice” ever opens up, I’m totally there.
ChrissyOne,
A worthy ambition. Personally, I would rather be Scary Spice….er…..I mean BECKHAM – DAVID BECKHAM!!! Yes, the strong and studly soccer player! ‘Cause that’s the way I roll, by golly. I will leave now.
lolz.
“Molesti,
I’m not going there dude.”
I suspect you already are.
Molesti, is that experience talking?
Does anyone have anything to respond about this article?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/12/06/dlmac106.xml
@ Craig Fine
Other than the fact that if you read it very carefully, it doesn’t say a damn thing? I have read 100-150 variants of it over the last 7 years. Mac viruses are coming… any… minute… now…
“Molesti, is that experience talking?”
Yes, in my experience, people who want to be David Beckham have decidedly gay tendencies and want to molest kids.
You guys are all fools. Apple will NEVER overtake MS, but you can keep your fanboy dreams alive.
“You guys are all fools. Apple will NEVER overtake MS, but you can keep your fanboy dreams alive.”
Here’s a nice poem for you, Ricky:
http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/672/
In this world, things can change and do.
First, Apple’s market value has already passed that of IBM –
http://www.macobserver.com/article/2007/10/23.12.shtml
– and, now, I believe, that of Cisco, too. It’s a very very big player, whether you’re too stupid to realize that or not is irrelevant. It’s in the top three tech companies, and it’s most certainly not impossible that it will be worth more than Microsloth one of these days.
Second – and despite what you may think – Microsoft doesn’t sell most of the computers in the world. It only sells a lot of software that goes on other people’s. Microsoft makes its money off the back of the OEMs. That won’t go on indefinitely, if the OEMs can see a way out of that.
While the high end of the desktop market is moving to Apple – and pretty rapidly at that – it’s more than likely that increasing numbers of OEMs will start offering pre-installed Linux on the low end. Dell is getting its feet wet here. It’s a dead cert. that others will follow.
It’s blindingly obvious that Microsoft cannot compete on quality with Apple. Unfortunately for it, it can’t compete on price with FOSS stuff either.
You may be crowing. But that’s because you’re ignorant. I’ll bet Microsoft isn’t crowing. It must be fully aware leaner times are coming.
It can’t compete on quality or price. What it relies on is lock-in.
Microsoft will literally put an OEM out of business before it lets them help a competitor. This is why big OEMs like Dell keep introducing Linux support and then pulling it again when Microsoft flexes its muscles.
http://catb.org/~esr/writings/world-domination/world-domination-201.html#msoft
Microsoft had better hope they keep getting US administrations that’ll turn a blind eye to that, because all it’ll take is one that won’t.
Sadly, Leopard is not very stable now. Better than Bista. of course, but it really has a ways to go. Tiger did seem to stabilize pretty nicely, but Apple has to play catch up now with Leopard.
Molesti,
“Yes, in my experience…”. I’m sorry to hear you have had a traumatizing experience like this. Was it recently or as a child? Did it happen when you were a child playing soccer? I apologize if I have brought back painful memories for you. I will never refer to David Beckham again.
Hg Wells,
I like your stories.
Yes but within a day or two of purchase most are running Windows under Parallels or Boot Camp. The VistaMac is not far away from launch.
The Mac might now be the best computer for running Windows, but even so, anyone who buys one for that sole reason is wasting their money. Most Mac buyers are still buying them for OS X (if you hadn’t noticed, Vista is out of favor even with the PC crowd).
What’s that one hit? DOS 1 1o 6? Win 3.x? Win95? Win98? Win2000? WinXP? Vista? Word? Excel? Exchange? Outlook? Internet Explorer? Powerpoint? Windows Server editions? Halo? The list could just keep going.
Each of those had competition in their categories.
Yeah, but they also had unfair advantages. For Windows it was being chosen by IBM. For the rest it was being tied to Windows. The iPod, iPhone, Mac etc have had to compete from scratch on their own merits.
Okay, Vista is bloated and slower than XP, which was 13% slower than Win98… Hmm…. At this rate… Where is my slide rule and abacus? I know there here somewhere…
MOOF !!!
Pete 1967
When SJ returned to Apple Inc in 1997 . The stock was selling around $ 12. I bought some shares at the time.
“Bill Gates’s company seems to have been caught napping, failing to get to grips with a consumer demand for flair, innovation and beautiful design…”
Yes please, let’s keep Microsoft thinking that all they have to do is make shinier, newer-fangled products.
Of course, successfull products need fair, innovation and beautiful design. But the reason Apple’s blowing everyone else out of the water is not these things.
It’s the integrated, holistic design.
The iPhone’s data protocol (EDGE instead of 3G) is a textbook example. It’s evident that Apple looked at their options, and saw that they could either a) ship a product that had the latest and greatest spec, but sacrificed half its battery life to take advantage of a technology with poorer geographical coverage that would make browsing feel only marginally faster, or b) use a technology that was less sexy but would provide 80% of the capability with far less power consumption, lower cost, better predictability, and superior coverage.
Most other companies, including Microsoft, are stuck in a “feature laundry list” mentality that is just killing their overall product experience, but they can’t seem to bring themselves to cut stuff (probably stuff that focus groups have told them they must have in their next “cool toy”) in the name of simplicity and a disciplined product experience.
Another great example is desktop content search. Here was MS, sweating hard on a whole new filesystem (WinFS) built on database technology to enable this, and then Apple comes along with Spotlight and adds a couple of kernel services and an indexing daemon and boom, they’re done.
More designed with higher specs is not always better.
With Vista outselling Leopard almost a hundred to one, Microsoft’s sure giving Apple a good hard wilting in the marketplace.
I use a Dell at work and I have a MacPro laptop.
Let’s just say I hate using the Dell. Its slow, clunky and unresponsive. I can’t even get sound (because the company doesn’t want anyone listening on their computer), because there are no speakers plugged in. I don’t get it! You have to buy separate speakers after you paid for a computer?
If it wasn’t for my MacPro, I’d go crazy!