Apple definitely has a winner on their hands after selling over three million iPads, and some are saying that this is causing Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer to suffer from iPad envy. Why would he care? He has publicly denounced the iPad. During the All Thing D conference, he said that someone was using a tablet in a meeting, and it was difficult to watch them use it. Well, during Microsoft’s earnings call Ballmer was asked what are they doing about the iPad. What does Microsoft have up their sleeve?
Well, if it’s the purported MS Slate, I would have to say they have nothing up their sleeve. I am not saying this to bash Microsoft, but to illuminate how they are bringing a tablet to market. The original specs for the Slate were basically a Netbook without a keyboard. It was using a Intel Atom processor instead of an ARM chip. Heck, the price point was even higher than the low end iPad. Microsoft has to hit one out of the park with whatever they bring to market, or they’ll just have another Kin on their hands.
So, in true Ballmer fashion when confronted with a challenge from Apple, he responded to investors with – “Apple has done an interesting job of putting together a product — they’ve certainly sold more than I’d like them to sell.”. Really, Ballmer, more than you’d like to have seen them sold. Sounds to me like someone is being a sore loser. If I were Ballmer, I would focus all my attention and resources to building a tablet device that is built from the ground up. Consequently, Microsoft doesn’t have time on their side. If they want to keep their investors happy they’ll probably slap a light version of Windows 7 with touch on a tablet.
Moreover, Ballmer tells the investors the tablet “…is job one…”. In my opinion, Microsoft is playing catch up. They are scurrying to stay relevant in a world were they are being left behind by the likes of Apple, Google, and HP/Palm. Maybe it’s time for Microsoft to go back to their core competencies, and develop software. If their hearts are truly set on putting out a tablet device, take the time, and do it right. Look at what Apple has done. It took them years to get where they are today — it didn’t happen over night. Microsoft has to realize this. Maybe they need to fall like Apple did before they can be a true competitor in the tech consumer market.
Photo Credit: Steve Ballmer
Article Via 9to5Mac & MarketWatch.com
July 31st, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Gerard: I am a regular guy with a passion for Microsoft products. I got my first PC back in 1994 and never bothered to get a Mac – despite using it at friends, schools and libraries. I love the simplicity of Windows and the fact that I can get my job done quickly without paying for over-priced glossy hardware. Agree that the Mac hardware and software work harmoniously – but Windows 7 isn’t any less cool.
Certainly in recent years, Microsoft has fallen back and isn’t doing as well. However, you need to sit back and think – what is Microsoft not doing well with? Phone? Tablets? Microsoft does not manufacture hardware for these like Apple. Hence there should be no comparison. You can compare the Mac OS with Windows 7.
Why don’t you write an article about XBox 360?! Where is Apple with gaming and why can’t they compete in that segment? Why do you guys always pick on Kin or Zune? Windows Phone 7 is coming this fall. Then we can go to war with iPhone vs. Windows Phone. Further, in my opinion, Zune interface is much better than iPod.
July 31st, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Apple does compete against the XBOX with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. In fact Apple has sold more than 100,000,000 of these devices.
July 31st, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Sam, you’ve got to be kidding. Microsoft has been trying to own the phone and tablet spaces for more than a decade. In three years, the iPhone has virtually swept Microsoft licensed phones from the market. And in three months the iPad has done the same to Microsoft licensed tablets. Of course its fair to compare what Apple and Microsoft have done in this space, particularly in light of Ballmer’s most recent comments regarding the future of tablets and Microsoft.
Here’s the thing, Sam. New competing platforms are being created in the very space that Microsoft had targeted. Not only is Microsoft missing out on the revenues generated by this new market, but their existing income from desktop OS’ and Office suites is being threatened as well. This is big news for Microsoft and turning a blind eye not very smart and not very practical.
August 1st, 2010 at 12:13 am
@sam,
May be because Win7 is just copy of Mac OS X two iterations ago.
There are innovations in Win7 but user does not know them.
Mac OS X came out in 2001. Microsoft has tried to copy for what
8 years and know you are crowing about it like past doesn’t matter.
Just like you bring XBox. Microsoft has lost money on MSN, XBox,
Zune, etc. If they were independent business without being subsidized
they wouldn’t survive even a year.
Apple goes into area where it can innovate. Apple isn’t trying to copy Microsoft
as much you like to believe it.
Don’t bring weak stuff.
August 1st, 2010 at 4:25 am
Sam, you have had your head in the sand for 16 years.
Windows is not simple. The average person can’t get what they need to get done safely, quickly and efficiently with WIndows. It’s counter-intuitive crap.
Zune interface better than the iPod. Why are you going down this road? Zune was a failure, despite all the hype and whoopla. Windows on mobile is going down the drain. Microsoft have no innovation culture.
What Apple does, just in case you missed it, is non-focus-group-driven creative, strategic, paradigm-shifting design/thinking, involving the integration of hardware and software.
We have not seen the last of dead-in-the-water Microsoft projects. They are somewhat amusing, though.
August 1st, 2010 at 3:04 pm
@Sam “Why don’t you write an article about XBox 360?!”
Er, because the XBOX 360 has been nothing but a money pit for Microsoft and if anything goes to prove that Microsoft is only good at accounting if you have a monopoly on the desktop OS then you can literally throw money at a segment until it is the defacto standard. But really if you are answering to shareholders then you shouldn’t have gone there in the first place.
“Where is Apple with gaming and why can’t they compete in that segment?”
Er, the iPhone / iPod / iPad gaming is progressing pretty damn smoothly and already upsetting Nintendo and Sony. So competing they do. But more importantly they earn money, for the company, for the shareholders. Apple are not attempting to “BUY” customers.
“Why do you guys always pick on Kin or Zune?”
Er, has anyone got anything to say about either of these products? Zune was great but a year behind what Apple were doing every time it was released. Skating to where the puck was rather than where it was going to be… Too little too late. The Kin was an abortion of a product that should NEVER have been released and the marketing appeared to be telling everyone that it was great for sexting or stalking. This was not a great message.
“Windows Phone 7 is coming this fall. Then we can go to war with iPhone vs. Windows Phone.”
Again too little, too late. Microsoft are releasing their version of the iPhone 2007 model three years later. The market will respond with a great big “meh”. War? At the most a skirmish. It will only be bought by those that refuse to buy Apple or the dedicated Microsoft fan.
“Further, in my opinion, Zune interface is much better than iPod.”
Great opinion. It is a shame that 90% of the market out there disagrees. So wave your flags and toot your horn but that battle has passed.
August 1st, 2010 at 1:39 am
Ballmer is either mixed up or a liar. He criticizes the iPad then spends all his time talking about creating an iPad killer. What a nut job. The truth is he is extremely envious of the iPad and wishes Microsoft could make something as good, but knows they can’t. Microsoft is an imitator, not a innovator.
August 1st, 2010 at 2:08 am
Microsoft has a real problem in producing a viable competitor to the iPad. Namely, their absolute dependence on the Intel x86 architecture. While the Atom processor is decent, it is not even in the same ballpark as the A4. I have both a netbook running Windows 7 on Atom and an iPad. The iPad blows the netbook away in battery life, performance and form factor/ease of use. It wouldn’t be hard to guess which device gets used 95% of the time and which gets used for perhaps about 5%.
Windows 7 won’t be ported to the ARM architecture easily either. But Microsoft should be able to do this with their incredible resources. Not sure they can do it in a prompt manner though.
Intel’s prospects in matching ARM’s performance to power characteristics, much less surpassing them, seem pretty dismal also.
As for one of the previous comments regarding the xBox 360, Microsoft lost a great deal of money in launching their gaming platform. The iPad, however, is providing Apple nice profit margins. Moreover, the iPad has become a runaway success whereas the xBox is a distant number 2 behind Nintendo’s Wii.
August 1st, 2010 at 5:58 am
Why does MS think beating the iPad is “job one urgency”? About six months ago, Microsoft was laughing at Apple when it introduced the iPad, saying that the iPad was a crippled piece of hardware with half an OS and that it was totally useless. They claimed that no consumer would ever buy something as useless as a purely touch-based tablet. They were swearing to their mother that the iPad would be a massive failure because it didn’t use a stylus. So why are they changing their tune?
Microsoft had been trying to sell Windows-based tablet computers for almost ten years to consumers without success and maybe sold about a million over that ten-year period. Now MS is saying that it can help build a Windows 7-based tablet much better than the iPad in just a few months. I can’t believe the arrogance of Microsoft. What does MS know now that it couldn’t figure out in ten years? How to copy whatever Apple does? Why does MS even want the tablet market with such a huge market share for Windows desktop computers? Greed? Microsoft should just refine Windows 7 for netbooks by trimming the OS’s code bloat.
I still don’t get why Microsoft thinks all of a sudden consumers are going to love a Windows 7 based tablet. That OS will be just a pig on a skinny underpowered tablet. I’m sure curious to see what Microsoft is going to do in a couple of months.
August 1st, 2010 at 2:16 pm
The iPad Envy started well before the iPad Announcement. Check back to CES in Early January when Mr. Ballmer announced what he calls Slates.
This Blog has the entire 2010 timeline of how the iPad changed the industry. bit.ly/bXDNNy
August 1st, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Balmer, Microsoft is a software publisher. Here’s an idea: Why not make a true cloud version of Office?!? (Not the crippleware you offer now.) Use Office on your Mac or PC, upload to the cloud, view and edit in the cloud (in ANYONE’s browser) (all of it, not just a ridiculous subset), view and edit with fully functional software on phones and tablets, have everything sync across all platforms automatically. In short, sell usable software on other people’s devices – ride their coattails – make lots and lots of money.
See, here’s the thing: it’s possible for BOTH Apple AND Microsoft (and Google) to be wildly successful here. It isn’t an either/or proposition. Windoze or nothing is the same rabbit hole decent that led to distant 3rd in the search business (and tell me why, exactly, Microsoft HAD to dominate or even be in that market???).
August 1st, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Funny.. I’m reading this thread typing away at my iPad as my windows7 machine attempts to make a blue screen of death repair while it was rebooting!