How Microsoft foresaw--and still missed--the iPad

How Microsoft foresaw--and still missed--the iPad
How Microsoft foresaw--and still missed--the iPad | Beyond Binary - CNET News

CNET is still in MS' corner as they have been over the years. I take that article and the so called early tablet idea of MS with a grain of salt. Let's face it, Steve Jobs has vision while the other "Steve" needs Bi-Foculs.

Regards.

And the third Steve (Woz) is just pure genius

I'm sorry but in Microsoft's history of building their own devices, I was never impressed. And people still wonder why the Zune hasn't taken off in it's 4 (almost 5) years of existence. And CNET, well, they're biased. They always have been.

Honestly I will have to say that Balmer as CEO has been a disaster. It's kind of sad really to see what Microsoft has become and what a waste of a competitor it really is. I can't believe the shareholders and board of directors have allowed him to stay on so long considering his record of mistakes and ineptness.

Chris H. said:

I'm sorry but in Microsoft's history of building their own devices, I was never impressed. And people still wonder why the Zune hasn't taken off in it's 4 (almost 5) years of existence. And CNET, well, they're biased. They always have been.

Click to expand...

MS mice and keyboards are some of the best out there. The Xbox would arguably be another MS hardware success.

schweb said:

MS mice and keyboards are some of the best out there. The Xbox would arguably be another MS hardware success.

Click to expand...

True on the computer hardware accessories, though I have no commentary on the XBOX.

schweb said:

Honestly I will have to say that Balmer as CEO has been a disaster. It's kind of sad really to see what Microsoft has become and what a waste of a competitor it really is. I can't believe the shareholders and board of directors have allowed him to stay on so long considering his record of mistakes and ineptness.

Click to expand...

Agreed MS make some of the best multi-button mice out there.
But if MS's legacy in years to come is being remembered for the best mice and keyboards out there then that is pretty sad. Considering what they once were back in the Gates days.

And the Xbox? I'm on the fence with that one. If they are making profit on it then maybe it's a success. But only a little one. They don't dominate in the video game machine market (Nintendo does) like they do in the PC OS market.

Sure a CEO has a lot of PR work and product unveilings to do. And on that side of the coin he's not too bad. He is a strange strange man. But I have seen worse. But where he fails in a bug way is a CEO is also a talent scout. It's his job to define talent, find it, and give these talented people the space they need to work and use their talented genius for the company. And with all the restructuring happening in MS at the moment and people moving from place to place I doubt anyone would have their own little space to work in.

This is where Apple excels in. They give people like Ive and his team and the other equally talented people (and their teams) the space they need to work. And allows their genius to flourish.

And the product lines are proof of this. Apple's i series of products (iphone/ipad/imac/ipod) are well designed and sold like hotcakes. Where as products like the Kin, the Zune and others didn't sell all too well and the look rather poorly designed.

the8thark said:

And the Xbox? I'm on the fence with that one. If they are making profit on it then maybe it's a success. But only a little one. They don't dominate in the video game machine market (Nintendo does) like they do in the PC OS market.

Click to expand...

They do make a profit on it, have been since after the first or second year. It's a much bigger success than the PS3, that's for sure, who has only started breaking even on their consoles last year.

And despite all the problems they've had with the xbox, it's arguably the best console out there. Sure, the Wii sold more. But the Wii was something that no one anticipated.

MS may make questionable decisions once in a while, but what they've done with the xbox shouldn't be forgotten. After all, it's not only the console itself that made its success, but also Xbox Live.

And while now MS is playing catch-up to the Wii with their project Natal (I just can't bring myself to call it by it's official name ), both Sony and Nintendo have tried, and somewhat fallen short, to emulate Xbox Live

Nintendo never tried to emulate Xbox live. What they did is just for a little multiplayer capabilities. Sure people compare it to Xbox live. But it shouldn't be.
Xbox live is a rather good concept. To me it's the best and probably good thing about the Xbox. If someone bought a machine just for Xbox live I would not laugh. Xbox live is really that good.

But the Xbox is the best machine tech spec wise I agree. But why did the best spec machine not sell the most? The same as people whinge the ipad is under powered. But it sells like hotcakes still. Maybe people want more then just raw Ghz and fps these days.

the8thark said:

Agreed MS make some of the best multi-button mice out there.
But if MS's legacy in years to come is being remembered for the best mice and keyboards out there then that is pretty sad. Considering what they once were back in the Gates days.

Click to expand...

I'm not disagreeing with you on that, but my comment on MS Hardware was in reponse to Chris H and his comment about MS never making good hardware.

They do make some great hardware, and some sucks. But so does Apple...um AppleTV anyone?

schweb said:

I'm not disagreeing with you on that, but my comment on MS Hardware was in reponse to Chris H and his comment about MS never making good hardware.

They do make some great hardware, and some sucks. But so does Apple...um AppleTV anyone?

Click to expand...

HEY!! Don't make fun of the AppleTV! I frikin love the thing!!

Side note…xbox 360=60%+ failure rate…how long did it take to fix? Never! They just waited till they upgraded their parts. That's M$FT as I know it!

Not a bad article but it could have done it better

1. It did pont out how Balkanised MS has become (each business unit fighting each other)

Some company watchers say that cancellation was part of a debate within the company over whether projects like Courier belong with the Windows team or whether the task was better suited to the devices unit, which makes the Zune, Xbox, and Windows Phones.

Click to expand...

2. Market share - the article goes on a lot about that, constantly citing MS's 95% market share - fair enough, but when talking about tablets it almost dismisses the iPads possible 25% market share in the tablet - netbook field

Now, it's not necessarily gloom and doom time for the Windows team. The iPad--despite early success--is a relatively niche product and likely to remain so for the near future. IDC forecasts that 16.8 million media tablets will ship next year, including the iPad and its rivals, compared with nearly three times that many Netbook-style computers (47 million)

Click to expand...

That sounds like Apple are set to corner 25% of that market, from a standing start in less than a year - that sounds more like Blitzkrieg to me

3. it does point out that MS should have created a slimmer OS, good, goes on to hope that MS can make Windows 7 into a touch screen OS

Nor has Microsoft given up on playing a role on consumer tablets. The company has talked about the suitability of Windows 7 and even Windows CE for such devices and showed some prototypes at this year's Computex trade show in Taiwan. Just this week, Toshiba unveiled a dual-screen Libretto tablet running Windows 7 that it says will ship in August.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry? Windows was never designed with touch screens in mind (accept maybe stylus devices). Its an awful answer to a tablet OS, and unless MS can stop its divisions bickering the company into the sandbank, it will be trounced by Apple and Google.

The one silver lining is that Google's efforts in the smartphone and tablet arena are looking good, much as I love Apple (and even a few years ago I would have never believed I am saying this) - Apple needs the competition.

I'm sorry? Windows was never designed with touch screens in mind (accept maybe stylus devices). Its an awful answer to a tablet OS, and unless MS can stop its divisions bickering the company into the sandbank, it will be trounced by Apple and Google.

Click to expand...

I don't know if they'll get "trounced" but I agree they will rapidly lose market share unless they get rid of Ballmer and start getting new and innovative blood circulating in Redmond.

BTW, Ballmer could easily retire. According to Forbes, he's worth $14 Billion.

Regards.