


Robbie Bach
J. Allard leaving Microsoft after 19 years on the job







You can read Ballmer's full email to the troops here.

Comments     Threshold


RE: zune BLAH
By mckinney on 5/25/2010 2:58:59 PM , Rating: 4
MS is trying to out ipod the ipod

That is the problem with alot of companies, (Google included) is that they try to out "Apple" Apple. Apple didn't invent business. Why companies think they have to follow Apple confuses me.

The blogs (like Jason Micks) are just as guilty because he always compares Google tablets to the Ipad, Zunes to the Ipod, and Androids to the Iphones. He drives the Apple Buzz though. Because of guys like him, Apples market cap is 97% of Microsofts. Two months ago, it was about 85-87%.

I really dont care what Apple does, as they are just another company trying to do business. I also dont care to read Jason Micks articles anymore as they are 95% history recap/BS and 10% content. I think he gets paid by the letter.

RE: zune BLAH

And remember:


RE: zune BLAH
By robinthakur on 5/26/2010 11:53:22 AM , Rating: 2
Its not very confusing. Its the difference between marketing an IT device to an IT enthusiasts niche (Zune, Courier), and a consumer device to members of the public. Apple steps through each feature and explains it, making it sound useful, not just leaving it as a bullet point up for contention. With a feature it's not particularly important whether its revolutionary or who came up with it, if nobody knows about it, it won't really sell these days.

Microsoft seem to cling to this idea that if a device is good it will sell through word of mouth only or through some kind of Halo effect of people wanting a device which integrates with their operating system, whereas most non techies are oblivious to this. It also doesn't work if people don't have a positive experience with their gateway products, namely Windows and Office.

Similarly Apple markets itself very well to the public, and they do it simply. Not spending millions to get Jerry Seinfeld in a bafflingly obscure viral advert which then gets hastily dropped. Even if you are not a consumer of their products you likely are aware of what's going on or that the ipad launches in UK tomorrow etc. Like it or not in the tablet market, the iPad is now the driving force just as the iPhone is the phone to beat in the mobile space (perceptually anyway...have you ever read a review of a competing phone that says categorically "this phone beats the iPhone in every respect" because I certainly haven't)

In closing, companies emulate Apple because they are very successful in both design, execution and marketing, see iPad vs Slate vs Courier, iPod vs everything else, iPhone vs everything else. Note that Android might well be leading at the moment, but where on earth would it and its interface be (along with all the wannabe copycat UI's) without the iPhone? Apple also achieves something by its high degree of brand loyalty, which infers that people actually had a positive experience using the devices, despite all the snide comments about them being style over substance. For some reason, their success causes many people in the tech industry to throw their toys out of the pram...probably because for all the bells and whistles you can pack in a device, it matters not if the device doesn't sell (e.g. the Courier-a nice POC but probably prohibitively expensive with a limited market and ironically, a limited OS [limited due to it being 2 tiny touch screens] which would have sucked up R&D resources and shat them down the drain).

