“Watching the Microsoft Surface event video, I sensed uneasiness. Not panic, but discomfort. Some will argue that I’m simply spoiled by Apple’s on-stage polish, but Monday’s Microsoft event struck me as rushed and severely under-rehearsed,” John Gruber writes for Daring Fireball.
“I presume Microsoft timed this event to jump ahead of anything Google might be announcing at their I/O conference next week — and the consensus seems to be that Google is going to announce much the same idea: their own Google-branded, Google-designed tablet that will put them in direct competition not just with Apple but with their own OS licensees,” Gruber writes. “But no pricing, no battery life specs, no demonstrations of the seemingly extraordinarily clever cover-keyboards in action, or really much in the way of software demonstrations, period? That’s rough, even by the standards of pre-announcements. Skepticism about these things doesn’t require knee-jerk Apple fandom. It simply requires an open set of eyeballs. The message I took away is that Microsoft has concluded that, ready or not, it needed to move now. There is no longer enough profit to be had selling software alone.”
Gruber writes, “It’s the OEMs whom Microsoft thinks Surface can put into checkmate, not Apple. If I’m right, it’s inevitable now that Microsoft will acquire Nokia.”
Read more in the full article – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Steve Jobs, whether he wanted to at the beginning of the iPhone adventure or not, has revolutionized (he was very good at that) the software business from one where relatively people few buy software at high prices to one where many buy software at very low prices. This suffocates companies like Microsoft and Adobe. Without hardware and hardware margins, Microsoft is dead.
Why pay crazy prices for Windows when the world’s most advanced operating system, OS X Mountain Lion, costs only $19.99? Why buy Photoshop Elements, when Pixelmator costs just $14.99? Why buy Office when Pages, Numbers, and Keynote go for just $9.99 each on iPad? The answer for the vast majority of users is very simple: “You don’t.”
Steve Jobs got tired of playing on Microsoft’s field, so he built his own stadium, completely changed the game, and, as a result, Apple entered into a league of their own. As the crowds flee Microsoft’s overpriced bleacher seats for Apple’s sparkling new venue with its low ticket prices, Microsoft has no other choice than to try to learn a new game and try playing by Apple’s rules.
If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth — and get busy on the next great thing. – Steve Jobs, February 19, 1996
Apple has forced Microsoft to change their entire business model from 37 years of horizontal integration to Apple’s vertical integration model; a model which Apple long ago mastered and a model with which Microsoft is unfamiliar and decades behind the Cupertino Colossus.
The PC OEM bloodbath, forced by Apple, hath commenced. The next great thing is upon us! Welcome to the Post-PC era!
Related articles:
Why Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility is a white flag of surrender, and how Apple won the future of tech – August 15, 2011
Why Apple’s controlling nature is a core asset, not a flaw – May 6, 2010
J.P. Morgan analyst prefers ‘vertically integrated’ approach like Apple’s in smartphone market – March 26, 2010
Apple’s vertically integrated Mac could make interim Wintel model look like a detour – April 25, 2008
Apple has proven that vertical integration works better – October 24, 2006
Microsoft tries to match Apple’s vertical approach – October 11, 2006
Apple was right all along: vertical market quality trumps horizontal market woes – April 30, 2006