Bill Gates Regrets Microsoft Losing to Android as Dominant Platform Beyond iPhone

[MacBH928]

I think Bill Gates is wrong, there is like 1B smartphone users at least. There is a lot of place for competition than 2 companies to dominate planet earth communication.

Back in the day, there were many software companies writing software for much smaller user bases like Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Original Mac, MSX. Even Jobs said people who wrote software for the NextOS were making ok.

 

[ROGmaster]

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.

You really don't know what you are talking about.
I can buy right now(so not even talking about mid-range phones with 7nm SOCs) an Android One phone with 6Gb and 128Gb storage for under 300$.
A decent mid-range phone right now at ~200$ has at least 4Gb Ram. Mid-range 7nm phones will have options for 4, 6 and 8Gb Ram guaranteed.
For example the newly announced 7nm Kirin 810 mid-range SOC is surely not mediocre.

High-end tech trickles down to the mid-range tier, not the other way round.

I didn't even say that.

 

[Steve121178]

You really don't know what you are talking about.

Says the man who reckons mid-range Chinese junk will take over the industry.

 

[ROGmaster]

Says the man who reckons mid-range Chinese junk will take over the industry.

OK so you're patronizing me. That's the best you can do.
I didn't say mid-range Chinese junk.

 

[iRutherford]

iPhones still being considered the standard, we have to stan

Why do you sound like a pop girl fan on Twitter?

 

[itguy06]

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.

^^ This. See Apple's history to find out how that plays out. They tried the exact same thing Tim is doing and it nearly bankrupted the company.
[doublepost=1561460843][/doublepost]

The bulk of people who bought iPads don’t care that it can’t replace their laptops. That’s the whole draw for them - that it’s nothing like a laptop. It’s really the echo chamber here who make such a huge deal about the iPad missing features such as mouse support when the reality is that it simply isn’t a dealbreaker for the majority of their users.

And yet Apple keeps making the iPad look more and more like a computer.

I still don't know who is buying iPads - the novelty wore off and most I know simply use their phone or laptop.

 

[decafjava]

iOS and Android are going to be hard to beat, but Huawei's mobile OS might stand a chance if it gets a start with traction in China.

(I don't mean this as a political post, I just see an opportunity for a new OS that might get backing in it's home country, I'm interested in what a new OS starting from zero would be like)

Doesn't Hauawei already have an Android-based OS for use in China that doesn't include Google services or the Play Store? They could use that but how to convince the foreign market to adopt it and develop for it in addition to Google?

 

[cgsnipinva]

With that idiot Ballmer at the helm, be thankful the whole company wasn't lost.

This.

Microsoft had the resources and talent to make a play in mobile but Ballmer was the wrong man to be at the helm of MS. He had no vision and understanding of the technical landscape.

Satya Nadella could have handled this. He has been an outstanding steward of MS since he took the helm.
[doublepost=1561465332][/doublepost]

This sucks for Windows users. They could have had their own ecosystem instead now, they don’t have one at all. Want to have “your computer” on the go? You can’t.

Agreed - MS could have done better than Android because it had an ecosystem in the enterprise and of course gaming in the home. Ballmer was the wrong man to shephard that exercise.

Interestingly enough - while MS does not have a mobile OS/phone hardware - it does have reach into mobile through its apps. Nadella opened MS Office, One Drive, Contacts, Skype, etc to iOS and Android. So you could turn either platform into a Windows mobile platform by using their MS applications.

 

[decafjava]

This.

Microsoft had the resources and talent to make a play in mobile but Ballmer was the wrong man to be at the helm of MS. He had no vision and understanding of the technical landscape.

Satya Nadella could have handled this. He has been an outstanding steward of MS since he took the helm.
[doublepost=1561465332][/doublepost]

Agreed - MS could have done better than Android because it had an ecosystem in the enterprise and of course gaming in the home. Ballmer was the wrong man to shephard that exercise.

Interestingly enough - while MS does not have a mobile OS/phone hardware - it does have reach into mobile through its apps. Nadella opened MS Office, One Drive, Contacts, Skype, etc to iOS and Android. So you could turn either platform into a Windows mobile platform by using their MS applications.

Agree heck I have almost all those MS apps on my phone and have a 365 subscription through my work. I also can access it through my iMac at home and it works quite well so kudos to MS for that.

 

[cgsnipinva]

Important thought! You can also imagine that Windows10 will soon feel completely slow, decelerating and backward against the upcoming chinese PC-OS. That can worry you already now: If the Chinese government then behaves similarly towards the West as the current American government does towards China, it will not allow its efficient PC operating system to enter the West. And then the Windows programmers and office 365 guys in the West will clatter on with their creaking keyboards.

Odds are that "new Chinese PC-OS" would be based on linux/unix. I doubt it will be a new ground up OS.
Outside of China - who would use it. The security issues alone (government back doors) would make it a no-go for most corporations and governments.
[doublepost=1561465675][/doublepost]

Agree heck I have almost all those MS apps on my phone and have a 365 subscription through my work. I also can access it through my iMac at home and it works quite well so kudos to MS for that.

Same here - I have a work folder with MS apps for my company on my iPhone and iPad.
[doublepost=1561466134][/doublepost]

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.

That is a very simplistic view. Apple is actually an ecosystem of multiple platforms from Macs, to iPhones, iPads, Wearables, and AppleTV knitted together with software and services. If you look at continued increases in purchases from the App Store, Movies and Music, and an ever growing Apple Pay platform - I think Apple can grow in other parts of its ecosystem when one part of it plateaus for a while. They have heavy amounts invested in R&D and sit on a $255 billion cash pile.

Nice problems to have.

 

[cgsnipinva]

Ballmer and Gates are aggressive thieves. They succeeded by plundering the work of others. MS DOS was basically IP theft, and so Office was a rip off of other products that already existed. Windows was a rip off of Macintosh. Gates used aggressive attorneys to get his way repeatedly in the early days. The guys at Microsoft were never visionaries. They succeeded by means other than innovation. So it should come as no surprise that they totally missed the boat with mobile.

That post is based on selective facts or myths.

MS DOS was not IP theft. Microsoft actually bought MS DOS directly from the creator for $55,000 under a contracted sale. it was not stolen - it was purchased legally.

How was Office a rip-off of other products? The first MS DOS versions were created in early 80's. From whom did they steal the source code?

Both Windows and Macintosh stole from the Xerox PARC research group that invented the GUI.

MS was one of the first companies that saw the future of software independent of hardware. At the time MS made its big deal with IBM -- the IBM executives stated "no one cares about the software" and allowed MS to keep the rights to MS-DOS plus get a piece of every IBM PC that was sold with MS DOS.

If you are going to make statement likes this - please be clear on history and fact.
[doublepost=1561466955][/doublepost]

Tim Cook should be regretting he let Android take over the smartphone world by such dominating margin. Jeez, each time I check, the iPhone has lost even more market share. The Chinese seem to have a working formula of simply undercutting Apple in price at every level without suffering any consequences. Each year they come back stronger. Apple raising prices is not a practical solution.

Yet Apple still makes more revenue and profit off of iOS on iPhone than all the Android phones and the Chinese combined. Cash pile at $255 billion and growing.

 

[cgsnipinva]

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/

Good lord - hope you didn't go to business school.

Investing in content that you can sell through your platforms and service channels is not running out of good ideas - its implementing them. its how you make more money on top of what you make selling hardware with software. its called leveraging revenue annuities/streams.

You can have android phones on a 7NM process and then what - sell them at razor thin marging and let another company sell services over it and make the higher margin profits. Apple is sealing up both ends. In fact - the Android model is copying the MS model - deployment of an OS (except for free) that uses free software in exchange for harvesting personal data. Where is the revenue/profit??

Google is letting its TV plaftorm stagnate - Apple is investing in it both software and hardware and content.
iPhone and Wearables - same thing.
iPad - same thing.

In the Android market place - Google makes the revenue on Ads and data sales. Not selling software. The phone makers that are not Apple will make razor thin margins on selling commoditized hardware -- 7NM process not withstanding.

Do you think that is a model for dominance?

 

[DNichter]

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.

I would be. You can take a look at their recent financials for some facts. Wearables and services has added revenue to make up for the stagnating smartphone market. Market share doesn't equate to revenue growth, the only smartphones that are growing are mid range phones from China.

 

[cgsnipinva]

Just a thought experiment. Now that Nadella has MS software line-up optimized, a strong cloud portfolio, gaming running better than before, and services - could they develop an MS mobile OS and let it slip to phone makers for free as a means of developing a platform to sell their software and services? They now have developers working hard on their mobile applications - they could get third parties to develop accordingly. It would be an initial lift - but as someone mentioned earlier - I am not sure if it is too late especially that Google seems to be moving away from Android and towards ChromeOS.

I understand there are barriers - but in its stronger state - I am wondering if MS could overcome them.

 

[BGPL]

How Windows is still any standard is anyone's guess. Some parts of the OS haven't changed since Win 3.1... like the mouse advanced settings. The whole thing needs to be thrown away and started over.

 

[SkippyThorson]

Should have apologised for XBox too...ducks..

Windows & macOS (meh, versions of Linux or Chrome OS)

iOS & Android (meh, Windows phone, BlackBerry, Palm OS)

Xbox & PlayStation (meh, Nintendo or most handheld console attempts)​

I don't get the stark hate across fans of technology. So what if there are two main competitors? So what if there are lesser alternatives? Isn't competition good for business, and ultimately consumers? Isn't choice across the market a good thing?

Let me be Johnny Positivity for a second, but why the hate when competition across a market forces company to bring out their best?

Alternatively; look what happens with monopolies. (Looking at you, regional cable TV providers. (Spectrum. (Rectum.))

 

[rosegoldoli]

Why do you sound like a pop girl fan on Twitter?

because i am

 

[hermes16]

Its 2019 and that was 4 OSes ago.
Update your stats.

Any company that would release a product with that many issues can't and should not be trusted, would buy a car with that many issues? They don't care about the end user and never have. Been to a Microsoft conference have you?

 

[trillionaire]

Microsoft did just fine without it. Let some other people have a piece of the pie.

 

[wigby]

That's like saying electric scooters have made trucks obsolete.

Most people who just consume content don't need a laptop anymore, that part is true. But content creators still need a decent laptop or a desktop computer. I'd hate to write a novel or a dissertation on an iPad.

There are many content creators that use iPad without issue. It mostly comes down to personal preference and those preferences are only moving in one direction more and more. A few years from now, people will be laughing at physical keyboards on laptops the same way they now laugh at Blackberry physical keyboards.
[doublepost=1561477711][/doublepost]

I'm curious - outside of the Apple Echo Chamber who cares about iPads? Most who tried them to replace their laptop regretted it and gave up. Even the Apple Cheerleaders have a hard time with it when they try. I'm a regular Mac Power Users listener and it's comical when they try to make an iPad work as a computer. Always having issues and brushing them off and hoping Apple gets it right in the next version.

I tried and gave up. Bought a Surface. It's what Apple should have made - a tablet that doubles as a computer. Yes Win 10 is not as good of a tablet but it's good enough. Running real apps is what is needed, not a bigger phone.

Apple's got their OS issues and so does MS. It comes down to personal preference and ecosystem lock-in. But the point is you chose a surface, not a laptop. You and MS now know that touchscreens are the future. Apple knew this over 10 years ago.

 

[iRutherford]

because i am

Do you slay?

 

[Baldilocks]

Android is just as messy as Windows, so I guess we still got what MS couldn't deliver.

Non-vanilla Android that is. Pure Android and maybe OnePlus have got it together nicely.

 

[Black Magic]

I still don't know who is buying iPads - the novelty wore off and most I know simply use their phone or laptop.

iPads are still a nice alternative. Let's examine.

You get off work, go home and put your phone on the charger. You then grab your iPad with cover/stand sit down on the couch to relax. Right out the gates, you have a larger screen and much longer battery life with the same capabilities as an iPhone. You go to bed, you put that on your nightstand as your alarm clock which you sometimes use as light reading while in bed. Morning comes, phone is fully charged and ready to go which sets you up to repeat the daily cycle.

There are benefits to having an iPad.

 

[edgonzalez32]

I'm an Apple zealot but I really like what Nadella is doing with Microsoft and I'm glad Ballmer is gone.

Satya opposed Ballmer's misguided Nokia buyout from the start, is leading MS in the cloud, expanding MS's presence in games again and opening up software and development tools like VisualStudio to Linux and Mac. Heck even Flight Simulator is making a comeback! A Microsoft that leans into its strengths is good for the whole tech industry imo.

Also I think Windows Phone was a sleek platform and I'm sorry it didn't take Android's spot as the defacto 'open' OS in the smartphone space. I much prefer straight up Hardware/Software companies like Apple and Microsoft, as opposed to pseudo tech advertising giants like Google.

Nadella is ****ing awesome.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Microsoft should repeat what they are doing with the new Edge browser. They are now basing it off Chromium--which is open source. Simply do the same. Make an enterprise-based phone that does what windows phone did (quite well I might add) and base it off Android. Then make all your stuff the best on android, but only allow certain resolutions and allow upgrade paths by working with Google. Now lock it down and voila. You have a secure alternative to iOS that can work with UWP. Make the hardware experience great, like it is with Surface. It could work.