http://mashable.com/2012/07/10/microsofts-ballmer-war-on-apple/
About ten years too late to try to challenge Apple on all fronts- I'm assuming Ballmer doesn't include multimedia sales like the iTunes store. The Surface has some very interesting features, but the fact that it crashed during the introduction and MS not allowing anyone to actually touch one doesn't inspire confidence. I think I'm one of the lone dissenters but I don't think having the same interface on tablets and full PC/laptops is a good idea- they offer different user experiences, and require slightly different controls. Some of the factors Ballmer counts as a strength are just as easily a weakness- enterprise support is important, but it's a lowest-common-denominator demographic. Businesses aren't keen on upgrading (my organization hasn't completely upgraded from XP yet) and the big shift from Aero to Metro may require the repurchase of a lot of software, retraining of employees, and other productivity nightmares. Win8 Phones look like they will be a winner, but I suspect they'll have a bigger impact on the sales of Android phones than iPhones; iPhones tend to create ecosystem buy-in. I can attest that mine was the gateway device for me switching to Macs, and users tend to purchase accessories and apps that would have to be abandoned. Android users on average spend far less on apps, and there isn't a Google ecosystem yet (although they are trying to build one from the ground up). I don't think their new product lines will be an epic failure, but MS has a lot of catching up to do before bold talk like this is appropriate. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en.
