MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

No surprises here. Eh?

Nov 17, 09 - 04:37 pm Comment from: Macintosher

Good site, Wired Gadget Lab is.

15 yes ago all the experts laughed at Apple's vertical model of controling the whole product. So who's laughing now?

Nov 17, 09 - 04:43 pm Comment from: ericdano

Ah, so the Android love affair looks like it might be sorta like the Windows Mobile love affair. Don Draper needs to be brought in to help Windows Mobile.....

"Microsoft’s biggest problem? One word: iPhone."
I believe iPhone is the biggest problem for all the companies.
Before the iphone, you just made a crappy phone, change the appearance in the exterior, put crappy hardware inside and you sell it as a whole new machine. After the iphone, if you don't make a really good phone (and they haven't yet), you will loose market share.

That is why Apple is getting the more profits, because Apple is a company that is rule by quality not quantity. The rest of the companies where ruled by quantity only, so they now have to spend millions to be "innovative" and made quality products, so it is like they are staring even that they have years in the market.

In one word the cause of Microsoft's rise and it fall- JOBS. Steve Jobs that is.

He has given so much for Microsoft to copy. Yet, he has done it so well that they can not even do that right. And now they are falling apart as people are finding the real deal. Apple.

Steve Jobs helps with the rise and fall of Microsoft. The tasteless, poorly conveived, and boring company. Can it learn for the master software and computer design company that Steve Jobs built, removed from, and returned to the number one computer innovation company in the world? Probably not. Not after seeing the new retail stores and the dancing staff. Wow, is not a word I would use to describe it. Rather a creaking sound as a build starts to tear itself apart.

Nov 17, 09 - 04:59 pm Comment from: dd

@Troy:

Great statement. I ask everyone if they remember phones before the iPhone. I do. They were tiny, both in size and screen, and were not very usable, especially for applications.

After the iPhone intro, every company tried to play it off as if they were also developing something like the iPhone, which they were..... starting the very next day.

They'll never get it and, most likely, will never catch up.

Nov 17, 09 - 05:00 pm Comment from: TowerTone

The title reminds me of one of my favorite rhymes;

"Little boy blew-
He needed the money..."

Sucks to be Microsoft.

Nov 17, 09 - 05:08 pm Comment from: kenh

"you will loose market share."

Sorry, I am an English teacher. The word is "lose" not "loose."

Don't know where that is coming from. Spell checkers? I see it every day now.

After getting an iPhone my laptop usage went to ZERO! I am either on a big desktop or my iPhone....I gave the kid the laptop. The only real mystery here is what the heck is a netbook for?

Nov 17, 09 - 05:12 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

Microsoft failing? Big surprise there.
Try writing non-shitty software and see what happens.

Actually, had Microsoft set some strict limits on hardware specs... pixel count of screens and hardware, like buttons and such... they might have done a bit better.

Still, MS's specialty in the software arena is writing bloated crap.

Nov 17, 09 - 05:23 pm Comment from: iPhoner

@ kenh
The word is "lose" not "loose."

Amazing how often this word is misspelled. I've been wondering if it's spelled "loose" in other countries? How else could so many people spell it wrong?

Now you can fix my grammar! lol

@ericdano: Ah, so the Android love affair looks like it might be sorta like the Windows Mobile love affair. Don Draper needs to be brought in to help Windows Mobile.....

You mean like the idiot who thought jai alai was the Next Big Thing? Sure, we'll take your money, but there ain't no helping that dog.

Nov 17, 09 - 05:49 pm Comment from: hakalautom

This article reminds me why I have long supported Apple with my pocket book. Microsoft needs competition. They seem to have no drive to excel on behalf of their end customers. Windows computers have always been a mediocre experience at best, but smart phones before the iPhone were poor. MIcrosoft was the king, extracting its cut of the tribute, satisfied to let the various feudal lords control their respective domains, make and enforce their rules, and extract the tributes. Peasants suffering with overpriced, crappy phones and burdensome restrictions? Not MIcrosoft's problem.

I recall the way a friend and president of a start-up fawned over MIcrosoft. His smart phone was an HP kludge running Windows CE. It looked like something thrown together by Frankenstein, perhaps ready to transform into a paperweight or a scroll saw. When it slid off the car seat onto the street, it fell into several pieces! Crashing of course. But it crashed frequently anyway, even when assembled. My friend excused all. HP is a good company. Microsoft is big, successful, with a huge R&D;budget, driving the industry, with maybe grants for start-ups like his. They've got to be the best, right? Arg.

The iPhone's success is only a symtom. MIcrosoft's biggest problem is that they tolerate a mediocre or poor user experience.

The article got it wrong in one huge way;

"Chen reports, "Microsoft’s biggest problem? One word: iPhone"

should read;

"Chen reports, "Microsoft’s biggest problem? One word: Microsoft"

Nov 17, 09 - 05:59 pm Comment from: Botvinnik

correction, Eel:

Microsoft's big problem: Steve Ballmer

Nov 17, 09 - 06:03 pm Comment from: Zune Tang®

I don't think I-Phone is a problem for anybody, except MAC. They basically sell only one version of hardware and it doesn't even have buttons. MAC lemmings don't have any choice, except for different memory options, but it's fixed memory! I-Phone doesn't even have a card slot. Is this 1992?

Fortunately Windows Mobile gives people choice: it runs on a wide variety of hardware with removable batteries, memory card slots for expandability, physical keyboards and the ultimate killer app: mobile versions of Microsoft's Office suite. Windows Mobile 7 is coming too. Buh-bye MAC and your proprietary "smart" phone monopoly.

Your potential. Our passion.™

Nov 17, 09 - 06:12 pm Comment from: dd

@kenh

It does seem like, in the last 10 years, people use "loose" when they mean "lose." Spellchecker doesn't help because both are valid words.

What's worse is that people say, "Oh, it's only a message board. Who cares how I spell?"

But, this kind of communication has become mainstream. People should, at least, pretend to care.

Now if only AT&T;can boost their network to keep up.

Nov 17, 09 - 06:48 pm Comment from: Big Als MBP

Loose vs lose.

Just remember this sentence.

I have lose change in my pocket and I don't want to loose it.

Oh, oh! Dyslexia strikes again. I meant well.

Nov 17, 09 - 06:56 pm Comment from: Hm...

@kenh

Don't be "Sorry, I'm an English teacher." Be very proud. "English" is a disappearing language—it's being slowly killed. It's tangled, strangled, and mangled by texting and message boards.

Nov 17, 09 - 06:57 pm Comment from: TowerTone

Big Als MBP
It's spelled 'Lexdysxia'.
Jeez....

Article doesn't mention that Peter Hoddy worked at Apple and was essentially the soul driving force behind QuickTime, the two times he worked for the company.

Nov 17, 09 - 07:20 pm Comment from: Macrelated

@Mtnmann

"Article doesn't mention that Peter Hoddy worked at Apple and was essentially the {soul} driving force behind QuickTime, the two times he worked for the company."

Soul? No! Sole!

When one considers the numerous advantages Microsoft brought to its plunge into the smartphone market (early start; brand awareness; nearly limitless financial resources), it's truly stunning how badly they have screwed up. A great example of how, given a relatively level playing field where the company can't leverage it's 800-pound gorilla status, the company can't compete on the inherent merit (or lack thereof) of its products.

Just to clear up one thing about the Android phones. The coding for different phones is not true. One app is made that works on all of them. They all share the same OS specific buttons.

The issue right now is screen size. Until now all Android phones had the same size screen, but new ones are just out that are larger with larger ones still to come.

To my understanding when Android 2.0 is pushed out to all of the phones it will automatically handle the screen size scaling.

The funny thing is that Microsoft will probably eventually resort to its reflexive response whenever it can't get a foothold in a market through its own efforts -- buy a company that already has an established product (in this case, RIM or less likely, Palm). Of course, with its anti-Midas powers (everything it touches turns to crap) Microsoft will find a way to screw that up as well.

Chalk it up to Microsoft's legendary hubris, arrogance and complacency. The company has been rolling in dough selling mediocrity with little effort or creativity expended, for so long, it thought it could dominate phone software by fiat instead of by offering (gasp) more usability and new features. Truly amazing how they squandered such huge head start and golden opportunity. But, that's the downside of decades of dominance and riches -- you get cocky.

Nov 17, 09 - 08:00 pm Comment from: Greg L

They “blew it” simply by being themselves: they don’t innovate.

Nov 17, 09 - 08:28 pm Comment from: ken1w

WinMo and Android equals fractured market, by definition. What they always tout as an advantage over iPhone (many different phones from many different makers) is its biggest disadvantage, especially when it comes to garnering support from developers.

Nov 17, 09 - 08:29 pm Comment from: MacRaven

"Apple and Steve Jobs are taking back what's rightfully theirs."

I really like that quote. Bravo MDN!

Nov 17, 09 - 09:43 pm Comment from: Occasional Poster

a Microsoft spokeswoman said in a statement. “The company works closely with . . . . around the world because people want different experiences on a variety of . . . .”

This is the same bull that MS has been feeding the gullible public since the mid - '90s. AND, just just a couple of weeks ago, MS described Windows 7 as being done by working closely with people/companies in its development as opposed to creating it in house and "throwing it over the fence" - which it admitted that it did with "Vista."

How many other developments were done this way but PRed as "developed closely with people/company consultations"?

But if Microsoft was the first player in this market, why wasn’t the software giant able to replicate the success it had with PCs?

When Microsoft found itself in the lead it crashed and burned like Wylie Coyote who found himself standing in mid-air.

With no one to steal their ideas from they flat-out ran out of steam.

2 paper cups and a piece of string could beat Windows Mobile at the moment.