Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Ballmer: Microsoft-Powered Tablets Are 'Job One Urgency'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Well said. I like my ipad a lot but nearly got embarrased yesterday when a guy at Mandalay Bay hotel was picking up 7 different wifi hotspots on his CHEAP netpad when my ipad could hardly keep a solid connection with one of just two connections I was able to pick up.
To be fair, my ipad works great in my house. Makes me think the ipad is sensitive to certain enviorments.
You forgot to mention that they will make the only portable device that will run off of a belt-mounted 20 pound battery. A combination of power-hungry CPU and full system 7 bloatware will insure a battery life measured in minutes.
It is becoming less and less necessary that new devices be compatible with "windows" any more...and more and more compelling that new devices can utilize the apps that ship from iTunes.
It was sooo sad to watch Ballmer struggling to not look like he was holding a spawn of the devil last January as he poked at that sorry piece of ***** he held, trying to jab it in the eye and make it "do something!"
Take everything Apple had done right, plus bridge everything that's missing on the ipad, put your logo on it, damn near any electronic company with some sort of cash can deploy their own version of a tablet.
Can't wait to see how original that's going to be.
You just totally missed the point he was making. I'd explain it to you, but even that might go over your head.
The outstanding success of the "Kin" is a prime example of what happens when MS decides to innovate. They totally captured a non-existing market. WOOT!!
Microsoft isn't going anywhere anytime soon, but I think most people on this side of the fence believe MS to be out of touch. Apple is hip and new and fresh, constantly creating, refining, smoothing out, and innovating while MS seems stuck.
Their good quarter came from finally having a solid OS to sell again, and they'll have a few more good quarters as the refresh cycle ticks up. If they play their tablet cards right, and allow others to manufacture them and they just stick to being a software company... they'll make solid money licensing their wares, whether the product makes it or not. That was their nexus all along, and it seems every time they stray too far from that is when they get burned. I don't wish MS ill -- I just don't wish to use their operating system any longer than I have to either.
gnasher729
Suspended
I just had this vision of Microsoft selling a tablet for $200 losing $500 with each sale, and Apple spending $20bn to buy 100 million of those and driving Microsoft into bankruptcy 😀
franswa za
macrumors 6502a
Again with monkey see monkey do..
This is why Microsoft are spiralling down and Apple up, they follow where Apple leads, Balmer is a nugget!
"Apple has sold more iPads than he would like"? if Apple hadn't of made the iPad Balmer wouldn't be up there holding that clone.
Hopeless
This is why Microsoft are spiralling down and Apple up, they follow where Apple leads, Balmer is a nugget!
"Apple has sold more iPads than he would like"? if Apple hadn't of made the iPad Balmer wouldn't be up there holding that clone.
Hopeless
Winni
macrumors 68040
You also cannot deny that Microsoft has been working on Tablet PC concepts for years already and that nobody ever wanted to actually build one. You could say that the market just wasn't ripe for it.
I really liked your views.
...just wondering about about the HP\MS deal.
With the HP purchase of Palm I don't think HP will be moving there devices the MS way. Paying over a billion for WebOS, I think, will sway HP away from MS.
Winni
macrumors 68040
Those are the only profitable divisions that YOU know of. Microsoft is much larger than this and they operate in (corporate/enterprise) areas where a consumer hasn't ever heard of and which you probably wouldn't associate with Microsoft.
Besides, Ballmer has been around since the very early days of Microsoft, and he's always been the guy behind their marketing and sales strategies. To a great measure, Microsoft has grown so huge BECAUSE of him, not despite him. And I doubt that he could be fired. He's a billionaire and owns too many shares of the company.
Popeye206
macrumors 68040
What is working in Apple's favor right now is that the product model is changing for consumer electronics. Now people want an integrated experience. The marriage of great design, the software and the hardware. Apple has all that and Microsoft only makes one part. So they're finding it harder to compete.
Even consumer electronics companies need to step it up. I've gotten to where is I'm looking at a new TV or BluRay player, etc, the software interface is just as important to me as the technical specs of the device. If the interface sucks, I won't buy it. Apple has changed the rules or changed the standard.
Even consumer electronics companies need to step it up. I've gotten to where is I'm looking at a new TV or BluRay player, etc, the software interface is just as important to me as the technical specs of the device. If the interface sucks, I won't buy it. Apple has changed the rules or changed the standard.
Popeye206
macrumors 68040
jmoore5196
macrumors 6502a
The Redmond folks have no shame ... none at all.
But why shouldn't MS copy the iPad? They've copied everything else.
I think John Ruskin said something about products being made cheaper, and about how people who consider price alone being lawful prey. The tablet is another signpost in the MS slide toward irrelevancy.
But why shouldn't MS copy the iPad? They've copied everything else.
I think John Ruskin said something about products being made cheaper, and about how people who consider price alone being lawful prey. The tablet is another signpost in the MS slide toward irrelevancy.
um...not quite...
For Apple to have copied the design of the HP Slate, it would have had to have known about about it's development a few years ahead of time. We all know that Apple developed the iPad (or something like it) before the iPhone; he said so at the D8 Conference this past June. In fact, the iPhone was based on the work they'd already started with their tablet. The iPhone project was started around 2000, so do the math.
I SERIOUSLY doubt Apple copied anything from HP or Microsoft regarding the iPad.
For Apple to have copied the design of the HP Slate, it would have had to have known about about it's development a few years ahead of time. We all know that Apple developed the iPad (or something like it) before the iPhone; he said so at the D8 Conference this past June. In fact, the iPhone was based on the work they'd already started with their tablet. The iPhone project was started around 2000, so do the math.
I SERIOUSLY doubt Apple copied anything from HP or Microsoft regarding the iPad.
Microsoft must be crapping their pants right now. Not only did they fail to see just how successful iPad would be, whilst it was just the iPad they could always rely on Apple's lack of public roadmaps and secrecy to keep the corporate market from jumping fully on board.
Then HP bought Palm.
Suddenly not only do they have to worry about Apple's dominance of the consumer market starting to push into the corporate area, they have an established corporate player developing and possibly even licensing a competing OS. And let's not forget the Google threat. If tablets start to dominate over laptops as it looks like they will that's more than half of Windows sales gone. Possibly even within three to four years.
And by the time MS bring their own product to market the iPad 2 will have retina screens, an even bigger ecosystem of applications and accessories, and even longer battery life; and it won't even be the only ecosystem they'll be up against. In my mind the only way they'll catch up is to offer HP a massive premium over the amount they paid for WebOS, something like $15-20bn. Trying to use Windows as the basis will lead to a whole bag of fail.
Then HP bought Palm.
Suddenly not only do they have to worry about Apple's dominance of the consumer market starting to push into the corporate area, they have an established corporate player developing and possibly even licensing a competing OS. And let's not forget the Google threat. If tablets start to dominate over laptops as it looks like they will that's more than half of Windows sales gone. Possibly even within three to four years.
And by the time MS bring their own product to market the iPad 2 will have retina screens, an even bigger ecosystem of applications and accessories, and even longer battery life; and it won't even be the only ecosystem they'll be up against. In my mind the only way they'll catch up is to offer HP a massive premium over the amount they paid for WebOS, something like $15-20bn. Trying to use Windows as the basis will lead to a whole bag of fail.
That indeed is the strange thing, and what makes me think MS have had to make a really generous offer to get HP back on board with the Windows 7 Slate. HP had publicly announced that they were dropping Windows for the Slate, so this is a real about-turn after such a major announcement.
If you look at what happened, according to what little we know from the press, it went a little like this:
Early January: CEO of Microsoft demonstrates the HP Slate running Windows 7
Late January: Apple announce iPad
April: iPad launches, is huge success (much to Microsoft's annoyance)
Mid April: HP internal memo leaked showing strengths/weaknesses of Slate vs. iPad
Late April: HP buy Palm for maybe around $1bn (though probably far less after stock options and debt are accounted for)
Very Late April: HP announce that Slate will not run Windows at all!
July: HP announce that Slate for Enterprise customers will run Windows after all, and that a Slate for Consumers will run WebOS.
The question is, what happened between April and July to make HP change their mind? Either they realized that WebOS is going to take a long time to get ready, and don't want to miss out on the sales of the current 'must have item' (after all, they almost had their Windows Slate ready to go), or, just maybe, Microsoft started negotiating with HP to try and persuade them to re-consider their decision to drop the Windows 7 Slate.
It'll be interesting to see how Windows Slate sales do in a post-iPad world. We know that tablet PCs running Windows haven't sold that well in the past - they were definitely a niche item used in some very small and very particular markets (door to door sales for example), but they might see a huge boost now that the iPad has made tablet computers desirable. Maybe that's what changed HP's mind?
steviem
macrumors 68020
Bernard SG
macrumors 65816
Actually iPad and Slate are both modeled on the design of iPhone/iPod Touch, so to that extent we can consider HP copied Apple's design, but then the iPhone 4 specifically is very close to the Slate, with its angles and the stainless steel contour (that infamous IP 4 antenna 😀).
There's a lot of copying going on as far as design is concerned but it doesn't matter that much. What matters is how well it works.
As of now Slate is in limbo although they (HP and MFST) are trying hard to resurrect it. They say they target enterprise. They better get it right and get it out fast because iPad is already getting an impressive Enterprise adoption. Even SAP has deployed iPads!! 😱
I'm not holding my breath.
whooleytoo
macrumors 604
I think Microsoft are at, or just after their peak. They're still a huge, and hugely influential company.
The problem is they don't have a real "foot in the door" of any of the key future markets. Google are way out ahead on the web/search/maps etc., Apple are ahead in mobile/touch/music. They're going nowhere, but how long can they even stay on top in their key markets when they're lagging behind everywhere else.
This is why Apple's market capitalisation is ahead of Microsoft's: Microsoft is dominant in a saturated market (desktop/notebook OS), while Apple is dominant in some rapidly growing markets.
The problem is they don't have a real "foot in the door" of any of the key future markets. Google are way out ahead on the web/search/maps etc., Apple are ahead in mobile/touch/music. They're going nowhere, but how long can they even stay on top in their key markets when they're lagging behind everywhere else.
This is why Apple's market capitalisation is ahead of Microsoft's: Microsoft is dominant in a saturated market (desktop/notebook OS), while Apple is dominant in some rapidly growing markets.