Apple still commands the lion’s share of profits in the smartphone market and their active user base continues to grow. I doubt he’s losing any sleep at night over not being able to lay claim to profitless market share.
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Bill Gates Regrets Microsoft Losing to Android as Dominant Platform Beyond iPhone
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Apple still commands the lion’s share of profits in the smartphone market and their active user base continues to grow. I doubt he’s losing any sleep at night over not being able to lay claim to profitless market share.
Yet somehow Apple keeps selling phones and increasing their user base. This and Cook’s ability to pivot from iPhone hardware to services and wearables, while still growing overall revenue, ensures Cook isn’t going anywhere. From a business perspective, he’s setting up Apple for the next 10 years.
Not sure where the excitement was, except for a small group of Palm fans/
Proof?
No app traction. Apparently developers had no "excitement".
Palm, as it was known back then, no longer exist.
Webos is IOT.
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You forgot unintuitive settings menu, driver hunting upon system reset, and the need for an antivirus software
Windows could have upped their game to have a closed system as apple does with their phones but they lost the battle. Apple seamless experience between devices is what has kept many going and their quality products. My iPhone X from 2 years ago still kicks a**
ChromeOS and Android are a joke compared to iPadOS. A wannabe and severely limited “OS” trying to stay relevant by running Fisher Price Android Apps.
Windows on ARM will go nowhere. Anyone who needs to do heavy lifting with Windows software will buy an Intel or AMD laptop which will crush any ARM device.
Further, what SoCs are going to power these Windows-ARM devices? In the SoC race over the past 5+ years Qualcomm and Samsung already grabbed the low-hanging fruit: they kept adding more cores and cranking up the clock speed. Apple took the harder/better road by concentrating on making faster, more efficient cores. Their 6 core processors (with only 2 big cores) easily outperformed the 8 core processors of the competition. And when Apple finally decided to go to 8 cores what do we get? The A12X, which absolutely obliterates every ARM processor on the planet, even Qualcomm’s 8cx “laptop” processor.
Without a solid SoC Windows ARM laptops aren’t going to be very competitive. And if/when Apple decides on an ARM MacBook, they’ll continue to trounce the competition who will have inferior silicon and lack the integration between OS/SoC that Apple will have.
I had Google Pixel 2 phone and at the time every reviewer was bragging on how good the camera was on it. I personally thought it was just good and nothing to brag about. Though I have camera gear that will put smartphones cameras to shame, so maybe I'm a little biased when it comes to judging them. I didn't like the Android OS as I always found it a little awkward compared to Apple's iOS on the iPhone. Never ever thought of getting a Windows phone as every review I ever heard said that the phone was not yet ready for the average user. I like the iPhone as I like how it's part of the Apple ecosystem that I have going with my iMac Pro, iPad Pro and AW3. I find I am more productive as I not closing apps to read a text message or respond to one. I don't think I ever buy a non-iPhone again.
I never get tired of watching Steve Ballmer mock the iPhone. I've probably watched that video 20 times, and I just watched it again now. I remember when Ballmer did that interview, and thinking "just you wait."
I'm no fan of Steve Ballmer, but at the time he made that comment, it was a pretty good summary based on what we knew about the iPhone. Sure, he should have been smart enough to hold off to see if the announced features/prices would be final but that clip is taken way out of context. He was talking about the iPhone after it was announced which was months away from actually being in stores and in consumer hands.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Apple is essentially a phone company that is seeing growth in phone sales grind to a halt. “Wearables” probably isn’t going to make up for that.
Cook’s answer to slowing sales has been to jack up prices, and you can only get away with that for so long. It’s a short-term panic move.
In a way, I kinda feel sorry for Gates and Microsoft. Ok, as sorry as one can be for billionaires. 
For years, they were trying to get Windows to run across platforms. I remember some commentator saying MS wasn't going to stop until your toaster ran Windows. We kept hearing how they were trying to develop a tablet that would run windows and revolutionize mobile computing. They tried for years to come up with a really good concept for it.
Then along comes the iPad and essentially Apple knocked it out of the box from the start. And Windows/MS had to play from behind once again.
For years, they were trying to get Windows to run across platforms. I remember some commentator saying MS wasn't going to stop until your toaster ran Windows. We kept hearing how they were trying to develop a tablet that would run windows and revolutionize mobile computing. They tried for years to come up with a really good concept for it.
Then along comes the iPad and essentially Apple knocked it out of the box from the start. And Windows/MS had to play from behind once again.
Ballmer just didn't have the vision. If it was up to him we'd still be using primitive Palm Pilot type devices with IE 6.
You have no real reason to disagree because he is correct. I also still own a Windows 10 Mobile phone and Android has been for years way more stable and smooth overall that W10 Mobile.
My Lumia phone still randomly freezes, shuts down or restarts. Apps don't work that well and I have often freezes because of it. I don't remember when was the last time this happened to me with an Android phone.
And it's simply not rubbish when compared to the iOS.
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I see this as bill gates missing apple vs microsoft rivalry... they kinda drifted out of eagh other now, has different priorities and no longer directly competing against each other... even imo windows is heading into a different direction from mac os. I guess he just miss the old mac vs pc as windows mobile vs ios but that didnt happen...
It's not about market share & never has been. Apple makes good money from selling devices but long-term approach is selling services & subscriptions. Why do you think Apple have invested so heavily in TV & film?
Besides, Apple have always taken the lions share of profits in the industry. I can't see that changing especially when the profit in selling Android devices is so low. Selling devices is all the Android device manufactures have up their sleeve. It's short-term thinking but all they can do.
Why has Apple invested in TV & film?
Because they don't have any good ideas left.
Actually it is changing, nothing lasts for ever.
The upcoming wave of mid-range Android phones build around the 7nm process will almost make high-end or premium smartphones irrelevant anyway.
https://www.counterpointresearch.co...-collapses-8-q1-2019-apple-shipments-drop-20/
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They really won't as they will still be budget phones with mediocre processors teamed with 3GB-4GB RAM. Mid-range are competent devices & and yes, mid-range Android phones always sell well globally, but they are not a replacement for the high-end.
High-end tech trickles down to the mid-range tier, not the other way round.
Wasn’t it Harry Truman who said “The buck stops here”. In any well run company it will the the boss who takes the blame, it’s only in badly run and often struggling companies that the blame goes down.
But it's not free for the manufacturers, they have to pay if they what Google Services bundled with their Android phones.