Apple more valuable than Microsoft
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- ukit0
Seems like Google is a much bigger threat than Apple doesn't it? Apple is always going to sell to the high end niche market, Android will take up the space that would have been grabbed by Windows.
And even with something like MS Office, clearly Google is aiming to beat them, and marketing themselves that way, although it's yet to be seen if or when people will view Google Apps as a serious alternative.
- airey0
it'll all turnaround when the next version of Word comes out. it'll output complete jquery websites, high-quality editable print templates, motion graphics (hd) and do your taxes. unfortunately it'll crash every 3.14 minutes so you have to work in fits and starts.
- SteveJobs0
well, yeah. as a generalization apple is more consumer-oriented whereas microsoft is both business and consumer-oriented. there's not a whole lot of overlap yet between the businesses apart from their os's, but just how much of a competitor google will be to apple is yet to be seen. the mobile market isn't apple's only game, nor is it google's.
- twokids0
Office is just a corporate habit. hard to break when you need to buy tens of thousands of copies every few years and your business runs on Work Powerpoint and Excel. And windows is the same. the only way that changes is when the entire landscape changes...like it is now, away from the desktop paradigm....
but i agree with ukit - Google is the player to watch. Microsoft has never been able to compete in the small computer world: they are only good at giant enterprise type strong arm deals....
Google is smart. Instead of one 'device' that they control, they just spread like weeds...android here, android there...and android tablet coming out in a month or two.
the HP/Palm thing could be interesting as well... but i think google is too big - too smart. they are the kings, imho.
look at HP, they snapped up Palm and dumped Microsoft and I'll bet they have a nice product. But already an Andrio- whoops, sorry for the ramble and typos. ill shut up and go in a corner. i get excited about these things...twokids
- SteveJobs0
don't forget, all these companies that are being mentioned are partered in one way or another. the core business of each of these giants is largely different. yes, they all compete for market share in their partners' core business, but that's just how companies stay relevant. they try their hand at a market that's foreign to their core business and see what happens. sometimes they fail (ms's attempt at photoshop), sometimes meh (ms's attempt at an mp3 player), sometimes they do quite well (ms's attempt at the console gaming market - round 2). apple is doing it right now with iAd and thier acquisition of Quattro (i think) - something totally new to them. all this to say, i don't see any of these guys knocking one another out of the ring. one may be more relevant in their respective market, but beyond that, they're all happy to do business with one another when it's lucrative for them.
- What I find interesting in mobile is that Android is a method of effectively preventing a monopoly for hardware.orrinward
- hardware. Apple smartphones mean you have to buy Apple. Android is becoming a dominant but open platform so it keeps the handset market open.orrinward
- it keeps the handset market open.orrinward
- Apple keep their cake small and to themselves. Google just have a slice of everyones pie.orrinward
- orrin, that's pretty far from reality. Apple never had more than a 20-30% share of the market even just for smartphones.ukit
- smartphones. If anything, it's Google who will have the monopolyukit
- I said handsets, and I was referring to smartphones only. Before Android there was a point when iPhone had something in the region of 35% marketshare, but with a very sharp rise over time.orrinward
- something in the region of 35% marketshare, but with a very sharp rise over time.orrinward
- Android throttles the growth and potential domination of Apple in the casual user smartphone market.orrinward
- If Android weren't around, business Smartphone would be BB dominated (as currently) and Apple would have a monopoly on the casual user.orrinward
- monopoly on the casual user.orrinward
- ukit0
This is true, I guess what people are saying is that Microsoft missed (or is on the verge of missing) a huge opportunity in terms of getting a foothold in the mobile market. Which, if you go with the thinking out there is where a lot of opportunities will be over the next decade.
http://www.morganstanley.com/ins…
What I was saying about Google and Android, you would naturally expect Microsoft to fill that role in terms of being the OS for "everyone else" while Apple corners the high end of the market. Now Google has very effectively grabbed rolled out Android and Microsoft is standing around wondering what happened.
- ukit0
- jamble0
So it's only the headline valuation that has Apple slightly in front?
"
As of Wednesday, Wall Street valued Apple at $222.12 billion and Microsoft at $219.18 billion. The only American company valued higher is Exxon Mobil, with a market capitalization of $278.64 billion.The companies have comparable revenue, with Microsoft at $58.4 billion and Apple at $42.9 billion. But in their most recent fiscal years, Apple had net income of $5.7 billion, while Microsoft earned $14.6 billion.
Microsoft has more cash and short-term investments, $39.7 billion, to Apple’s $23.1 billion, which makes the value assigned by the market to Apple, essentially a bet on its future prospects, all the more remarkable.
"
- moth0
It's not really fair to compare a fashion shop with a serious tech company though is it?
- stewdio0
@moth That's a false dichotomy.
- JazX0
Walter Mossberg and Kara Swisher interview Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at 'D5: All Things Digital' conference in Silicon Valley in 2007. Quotes made during the time of the photograph.Kara: "What you think each has contributed to the computer and technology industry, starting with you, Steve, for Bill, and vice versa."
Steve: "Bill built the first software company in the industry and I think he built the first software company before anybody really in our industry knew what a software company was, except for these guys. And that was huge. That was really huge. And the business model that they ended up pursuing turned out to be the one that worked really well, you know, for the industry. I think the biggest thing was, Bill was really focused on software before almost anybody else had a clue that it was really the software."
Walt: "Bill, how about the contribution of Steve and Apple?"
Bill: "Well, first, I want to clarify: I’m not Fake Steve Jobs. [Peals of laughter.] What Steve’s done is quite phenomenal, and if you look back to 1977, that Apple II computer, the idea that it would be a mass-market machine, you know, the bet that was made there by Apple uniquely—there were other people with products, but the idea that this could be an incredible empowering phenomenon, Apple pursued that dream. Then one of the most fun things we did was the Macintosh and that was so risky. People may not remember that Apple really bet the company. Lisa hadn’t done that well, and some people were saying that general approach wasn’t good, but the team that Steve built even within the company to pursue that, even some days it felt a little ahead of its time—I don’t know if you remember that Twiggy disk drive and..."
- they are buddies and they laugh all the way to the bank..JazX
- JazX0
- ukit0
- ukit0