“Pundits are declaring mobile the new PC. The number of mobile phones far outstrips the number of desktops. Mobile phones are available to people in the developing world who never had an opportunity to buy or even use a PC. With phones becoming smarter, there will be even less need for people to own PCs. Microsoft has dominated the PC-based world ever since it drove Apple close to extinction in the mid ’90s,” Saad Fazil writes for VentureBeat. “But with Apple’s strong footing in mobile, its recent release of a larger, tablet form factor, iPad, also based on its mobile iPhone OS, and more form factors likely on the way to challenge the traditional PC, we may be in for a rematch.”
MacDailyNews Take: Welcome, Saad. (There’s a reason why Bill Gates took his marbles and went home when he did; even he could see it coming.)
Fazil continues, “Several companies realize that the future lies in mobile. Google, with its obsession about mobile advertising and its foray into the mobile OS space with Android, is a good example. And Microsoft is certainly rethinking its strategy with Windows Phone. But while these and other players develop their mobile strategies, Apple has already built a huge lead, not only with its powerful iPhone operating system, but with the vast number and variety of applications available on that OS. The jury’s still out on whether Apple’s iPad will be the huge success many expect it to be. But even so, the app development community has so much faith in Apple’s ecosystem that we’ve seen startups and bigger companies racing to join a gold rush of app development for the platform. There are more than 150,000 apps available on iPhone and a lot more to come on iPad.”
MacDailyNews Note: There are currently 185,531 apps in Apple’s App Store as of publication. Oops, make that 185,532. Uh, 185,533… You get the idea. Note also that Fazil has underreported the number of apps in Apple’s App Store by approximately the total number of apps available for distant runner up: Google Android (although his “more than” serves as an out of sorts).
Fazil continues, “Now that Apple’s gained a solid foothold in the mobile market, there’s nothing to stop it from expanding its mobile OS and mobile devices — from smartphones and tablets to other, more computing-intensive devices — until it’s once again in a face-to-face fight with Microsoft for dominance of the computing market. And if it does, this time I believe it’ll win.”
MacDailyNews Take: BINGO!
Fazil explains “how Apple could use its lead in the mobile market to redefine the PC industry, and unlike Microsoft, which has gone mobile by stripping down its Windows operating system to create Windows Mobile, will move up the market, from smartphone to PC-like device, by growing its iPhone OS to support new kinds of functionality and devices” in the full article – highly recommended despite our assorted wiseassery above – here.
How ’bout we stop calling the iPad a computer and call it what it is, an information/entertainment/social media appliance. And that’s all 90% of people need.
Did I just see a towel being thrown in somewhere around Redmond?
Re: MDN take, wasn’t Apple originally pushing web apps for the iPhone? Does that make the App Store an accidental success (much like Microsoft)?
“underreported the number of apps in Apple’s App Store by approximately the total number of apps available for distant runner up: Google Android”
In other words, a rounding error.
You people are complete kool-aid drinking idiots. Discourse with you is like talking to a brick wall.
“Wow the windows trolls are out in full force today.”
Oh no, that stings soo much you baboon. P.S. I haven’t used windows in almost a decade; I am and have been a Mac person. But I don’t wake up every morning with Steve Jobs’s dick in my mouth like the rest of you.
Enjoy your Kool-Aid and your dick; somehow that combination seems fitting for most of you in here.
Windows dominated the PC market because Microsoft used a series of increasingly abusive license agreements to forbid OEMs from supporting competing software, creating vendor lock-in, and made Windows rife with proprietary formats at every possible opportunity, creating consumer lock-in, which in turn created developer lock-in.
They topped it off with vast propaganda… Sorry, I mean *marketing* campaigns that could have made the Iraqi Information Minister weep with admiration.
@BiteMe
“I am and have been a Mac person.”
Yeah, that explains why you’ve done nothing but give Microsoft a long, sloppy, fact-absent blowjob since you began posting comments on MDN.
This is what I love about you unapologetic, idiot fanboys: you can’t even hear your own stupidity.
Hey moron:
“Windows dominated the PC market because Microsoft used a series of increasingly abusive license agreements to forbid OEMs from supporting competing software, creating vendor lock-in, and made Windows rife with proprietary formats at every possible opportunity, creating consumer lock-in, which in turn created developer lock-in.”
You just described exactly what Apple is doing RIGHT NOW and you’ve essentially made my argument for me by predicting the demise of Apple long-term from the historical perspective of how Microsoft abused developers.
Thank you, idiot.
Just because I’ve defended Gates as a philanthropist, and BTW, tool – if Gates hadn’t bailed out Apple in the 80’s you and your fanboy ilk wouldn’t even be here right now, doesn’t mean I defend Microsoft proper. But your pea-sized brain can’t comprehend that.
Enjoy your sign…and your Kool-Aid…and your dick.
I shall ignore the trolling here (regardless of volumes of flat-out incorrect facts they keep trying to put out) and chime in with a different point.
Many here seem to refer to the possibility of Apple abandoning desktop (or ‘real’) computing in favour of mobile-only solutions. They fail to comprehend Fazil’s point.
Apple is following through with the first part of Jobs’s quote from the mid- 90’s that has already been mentioned here:
“If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth — and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago.”
The next great thing isn’t iPad (nor is it iPhone). It is the underlying GUI part of OS X. Apple is setting users up for computing via a GUI that is significantly better, easier, more intuitive, more logical and less support-demanding than Mac OS X. As soon as hundreds of millions of users learn and get comfortable with this UI, Apple will shift their ‘real’ computers over to the new GUI OS. As they have already done many times before (transition from Motorola 68k to PPC, from OS 9 to OS X, from PPC to Intel, 32bit to 64bit… a long list), they will transition from Mac OS X to the new mobile OS X, dragging the major developers kicking and screaming (Adobe, Quark, MS…), but they’ll eventually do it and eventually, we will all be effortlessly doing heavy lifting on future Mac Pros and iMacs without a mouse or a keyboard (obviously, heavy typing tasks will continue to be done on a keyboard).
This is why Apple has won and MS has lost. Once this move is complete, working with Windows will still require heavy IT support, while this platform will even further reduce already fairly minimal support requirements for the current Mac OS.
For those who are unaware, Zune Tang is being satirical (I feel like there’s a better adjective, but I can’t think of it right now).
“You just described exactly what Apple is doing RIGHT NOW”
Hahah, yeah. Apple is using abusive license agreements to forbid OEMs from supporting competing software. Oh… Wait a minute, Apple doesn’t even license software to OEMs considering they make their own hardware. Well, uh…
At least Apple makes OS X rife with proprietary formats to create lock-in! No… Wait, they don’t do that either. OS X is second only to Linux in its support of open standards. Damn.
You don’t actually read other people’s comments, do you? You just kind of quickly skim them and then squeeze out an apoplectic reply that doesn’t make any sense because you only quickly skimmed the comment you were replying to.
“Just because I’ve defended Gates as a philanthropist”
Which he isn’t.
“if Gates hadn’t bailed out Apple in the 80’s”
Which he didn’t. Apple had about 1 billion cash on hand while Gates’ investment was only worth about 150 million, although they also made some other payments over the years, by all accounts they were enough to give Apple a hand, not save them from the brink of death. The whole reason why it even happened was because Microsoft had comitted various patent infringements as well as incorporated stolen Quicktime code into Windows, and the investment was a plea-deal to avoid court battles MS couldn’t win. Of course, MS also got something out of it, by furthering their Office and Internet Explorer monopolies.
Oh, and then there’s the way you rant and rave about how orgasmically awesome Windows 7 is, which it isn’t, and how it’s a great success, which it also isn’t(in reality, it’s failed to so much as catch up to Vista).
You repeatedly shill for Bill Gates and Microsoft by both omitting the truth and outright lying, and then wonder why you’re being called out for being a shill. Ahhh, comedy.
And what’s up with your obsession for kool-aid and dicks, anyway? Oh my God, wait…
Joanie Laurer!?
Hahahaha, oh shit. Although it’s sort of related, I linked to the wrong article.
Click on this one instead:
Microsoft had comitted various patent infringements as well as incorporated stolen Quicktime code into Windows
>> Windows dominated the PC market because Microsoft used >> series of increasingly abusive license agreements to forbid
>> OEMs from supporting competing software, creating vendor
>> lock-in, and made Windows rife with proprietary formats at
>> every possible opportunity, creating consumer lock-in, which in
>> turn created developer lock-in.
Oh my how evil of them, isn’t this what Apple are doing now? isn’t H264 proprietary? How about apple opening up the ipod to Songbird and other media players? How about OSX running on any hardware.. let me guess, you about to pound your keyboard and use the old “User Experience” argument you’ve been programmed to use when confronted with life’s realities.
I like to see myself as platform agnostic, I have a linux server, windows 7 desktop, Mac G5 (Leopard) desktop and XP Laptop, I won’t defend any of them because, to be frank, it’s just software.
So why pick on Apple Fanboys then? Because you’re all so sadly dedicated to a company that frankly just wants your cash… I love how you defend arguments without anything more than the latest Apple keynote. I get a sniff that I’m going to have the same joy shortly with Android that I did when Apple switched to Intel, I had to troll back through the archives to read all those Apple Fanboys arguments about how the PowerPC was superior (for no other reason than Apple used it)
Seriously wake up, Apple know your all amazingly stupid, that’s why Jobs is happy to gloat about pushing A BILLION ADS A DAY to your iPhones next year. He’s talking about serving up spam to you every 10 minutes and YOU ARE ALL CLAPPING!
>> They topped it off with vast propaganda… Sorry, I mean
>> *marketing* campaigns that could have made the Iraqi
>> Information Minister weep with admiration.
Dude, have you ever seen a Steve Jobs keynote, I’ve been to churches with less religious overtones..
“Despite the gorgeous products and services you’ve created, we worry that you’re headed down a road that may lead to your own demise.” http://battellemedia.com
Hey idiot,
I was talking about iPhone OS, which is exactly what everyone around here is saying is the OS of the future, and how the desktop is dead. Ask Adobe and anyone with an Apple SDK about developer lock-in.
Oh, so the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which has a trust of over 35 Billion dollars, managed by Warren Buffet, and have already given out billions – is not a Philanthropist.
You, simply put, are a complete moron. I forgot, moving to another state to jump ahead of people on the liver donation list – that’s philanthropy. How mistaken I am.
The bottom line is without Microsofts investment Apple would have gone under. Period. Microsoft never took a handout from Apple. Think about that. I know that must hurt your little brain.
Then, whose fault is it that Apple is get in bed with Microsoft to bring Bing search to the iPhone? Is that Microsoft’s fault?
If anything, between Microsoft, Apple, and Google, I am in the Google camp. The android platform is truly open, and the Android phones (see CNET) regularly top the consumers best phones surveys (over the iPhone) with almost no advertising dollars relative to the iPhone and Android has quietly amassed over 30,000 apps. Yes, Apple has over 180,000. But who needs 150,000 iFart apps?
Get a clue. You and the wrest of your ilk are pathetic.
“Oh my how evil of them, isn’t this what Apple are doing now?”
… Okay, I admit it! You’re absolutely right! I told BiteMe it wasn’t true, but I just can’t keep up this charade anymore!!
Apple is doing the EXACT same thing Microsoft did to make Windows dominant. They’re using abusive licenses to forbid PC manufacturers like Dell, HP, and Compaq from supporting anything that competes with Apple products.
You and BiteMe hit the nail on the head.
“isn’t H264 proprietary?”
Yeah, it is. H264 is a proprietary Apple format. Steve Jobs invented it himself, infact I hear he wrote the specs down on the back of a napkin during a Cupurtino office party. It won’t run on anything except Macs, iPods, iPhones, and iPads. Man, it locks people into OS X so hard it makes me sick.
“How about apple opening up the ipod to Songbird and other media players?”
I agree. If only there were alternatives to iTunes then the world would truly be a better place.
“How about OSX running on any hardware”
Another excellent point. The way Apple only allows OS X to run on their own hardware makes them so much like Microsoft it’s scary. They need to license OS X out to OEMs soon, before the DOJ hits them with an antitrust suit.
“So why pick on Apple Fanboys then?”
Hmm… Because you hope Microsoft will send you some totally sweet prizes?
“Ask Adobe and anyone with an Apple SDK about developer lock-in.”
Show me where in any Apple SDK agreement it states that developers aren’t allowed to support rival platforms. Show me where it even erects any barriers at all against developing for Android or WinMo or Linux or Windows, or using interoperable standards. Then come back and talk to me about developer lock-in.
I completely agree with your point about Adobe, though. It’s despicable how evil closed-off Apple is trying to abolish Flash lock-in and replace it with HTML5. Those bastards, trying to ruthlessly lock developers into an open standard. It’s so vile…
“Oh, so the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which has a trust of over 35 Billion dollars, managed by Warren Buffet, and have already given out billions – is not a Philanthropist.”
No, it isn’t(I’ll let your wacky English slide). As has already been pointed out, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a tax shelter for Bill’s investments and a vehicle for entrenching Microsoft’s products. If I ran a charity for the purposes of being a tax write-off and maintaining a monopoly for my business, even if the charity did some good work, would that make me a philanthropist or just an opportunistic asshole pretending to be one?
“I forgot, moving to another state to jump ahead of people on the liver donation list.”
I wonder if it feels nice to be unburdened by reality. Does it?
“The bottom line is without Microsofts investment Apple would have gone under”
Already answered that. Don’t repeat yourself.
“If anything, between Microsoft, Apple, and Google, I am in the Google camp”
Yup, you’re in the “Google camp”. You’re all about openness. That’s why you have a raging hard-on for Microsoft and evangelize them at Apple sites.
Oh great, the “alternatives to iTunes” link is botched. But it’s MDN’s fault this time, I swear!
Go to a search engine and punch in “itunes alternative” with quotes, same effect.
Just to repeat again, for the dimwits in the back row, the fact about ‘Microsoft bailing out Apple’ in the 90’s.
In 1997, Microsoft purchased $150 million worth of AAPL stock, which represented roughly about 5% of Apple stock at the time (Apple was worth around $3B back then). This ‘investment’ (in fact, it was just a purchase of outstanding Apple stock) was part of a deal that also included Microsoft’s commitment to continue developing MS Office for the Mac. Several years later, MS sold those stocks (at handsome profit, mind you).
When MS bought those shares, Apple had over $1B in CASH. The ‘Investment’ was an entirely symbolic gesture, to accompany a meaningful one (commitment to Office for Mac).
Anyone reading these contrary ‘opinions’ can easily figure out they are just trolling; the part about MS ‘investment’ is not the only un-truth.