“Recently, Steve Ballmer got all loquacious at a meeting with financial analysts, many of whom were using Apple laptops. He was moved to comment on the preponderance of Macbooks, referring to Apple as ‘a fine company’ that was prospering from a low-volume, high-price strategy. He then proclaimed that Microsoft hadn’t lost market share to Apple over the past year and any changes in the reported market share numbers were a rounding error,” Robin Bloor writes for Seeking Alpha.
Bloor writes, “Nobody needed to butt in and tell him that his statistical skills needed a little polishing, because he contradicted himself in the next sentence by saying that ‘market share gains by Apple cost Microsoft nothing’ and ‘hopefully we’ll take share back from Apple.'”
Bloor writes, “Ballmer is whistling in the dark. Microsoft’s revenues collapsed 17 percent in the last quarter, mostly from the decline in Windows revenues, while Apple still managed to post growth in Mac sales – albeit of a modest 4 percent. Meanwhile the iPhone was taking off like a rocket.
“The tendency of CEOs whose companies are in trouble to become suddenly inept with statistics is legendary, but it’s not in a CEO’s nature to stand up and proclaim ‘the competition is killing us.’ But that’s what’s happening to Microsoft,” Bloor writes. “Competition is killing it.”
Bloor writes, “The coup de grâce here will be the Apple tablet… The new Apple tablet will be a big bad iPhone. It will start to consume the laptop market from the get go. It will be what the Netbook should have been, but never was.”
“Apple now has 90 percent of the high-end PC market. It has slaughtered the competition in that area. But Ballmer thinks that’s unimportant, because it’s low volume. Well take a look at the iPhone’s grip on the hearts and minds of consumers and watch what happens to the Apple tablet, Mr. Ballmer,” Bloor writes. “It won’t be low volume. Apple is coming at you from both directions and you’re caught in the sandwich.”
Full article – very highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: This is familiar territory for Microsoft; they’ve been feeding their customers shit sandwiches since 1975.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “James W.” for the heads up.]
“No no no… the album was called Shark Sandwich”
Microsoft shareholders need to insist that Steve Balmer be replaced. They will at some point in the future. Might as well make it earlier rather than later. “Now,” they still have huge (though declining) revenue from the Windows and Office cash cows. A good leader could take the tough steps necessary to use that advantage to turn things around for Microsoft. If they wait for “later,” that advantage will be greatly diminished.
Maybe Bill Gates is planning his great comeback to save the company he founded. Michael Dell tried it a few years ago. They are both Steve Jobs wanna-be’s.
and ZT snags another one…
Robin Bloor can really write well. Jealous I am.
I wonder if Apple will start with the first chip from the PA Semi folks (we need a new name for them, Apple Chips??) in the Tablet because there would be more leeway with the specs. Get the production ramped, faster cooler chips/bins, software tweaked to perfection, then slip it into the iPhone.
> When Gates left, Vista had already flopped.
I believe Steve Ballmer has been in the CEO position since 2000. If he had the ability (or maybe just the desire) to affect the big changes to Microsoft that are needed, he would have done so by now. True, Bill Gates was still Board Chairman, but the CEO of a company better have SOME influence in running the company and long-term strategy. Steve Ballmer has influence, but results indicate it is just wrong.
Hey Zune Tang
Want Fries with that ?
BC
“who is to blame”
Sadly it is the millions of mindless lemmings that keep buying the pathetic piss that Micro$hit sells as software.
On hardware that is only as good as the pathetic sotware it runs.
@ F. Maxwell,
“I’m probably going to be roundly booed for this, but Apple does not need Microsoft to fail in order for Apple to succeed.”
No, but it would be a nice bonus if Microsoft did fail as Apple succeeded. Most Mac users have suffered with Microsoft products at one point or another. They owe us the satisfaction of their ultimate failure.
ZT: Snap!
Please use ‘mac dorks’ in next post. Makes me laugh every time. Thus one was quite good, though.
Bring on Snow Leopard!
Can someone please get rid of Zune Tang forever from here. I am tried ( even if funny) of reading jealous rubbish??