It doesn't Matter
Why Microsoft outplays Apple long term. Scobleizer
Scoble makes the opposite point. Apple has created something so compelling, yes the iPhone, that events organize themselves around it, people wait in line even when they don't have too and even when it has serious flaws. AT&T anyone?
Has Microsoft ever done that? Arguably once, with Windows 95 and guess what, that was because people could finally get what they perceived to be a "cheap Mac." It had more to do with Apple's blunders than anything Microsoft did. DOS doesn't count because IBM's blunders gave Microsoft that opportunity. XBox doesn't count because it's not profitable.
Could Microsoft have created an iPhone. Not likely.
Clearly Apple is somewhat deluded about the prospects of maintaining the iPhone as a completely closed device (More on this topic later), but Apple is not the dogmatic company it once was. Steve may scream outloud that "the iPod will never be released on Windows" but when push comes to shove, Apple as a company makes happen what has to happen.
Does the iPhone Look So Great Because Everything Else is So Bad?:
- Apple didn't show up with stickers
The iPhone is flawed, make no mistake. AT&T is SO bad that I've considered returning my own iPhone. In spite of the flaws, it's a break-through product. Sure, it's possible that AT&T won't spend the 700,000 activation fees to put cells in my neighborhood, (even though it's in New York City) and it's possible that Safari will continue to crash every 10 minutes when I push it too hard, it's possible that the updates won't come in nearly as fast as I'd like them too, and it's possible that Apple will stick it to all of us early adopters by releasing a true 3G version before Christmas, and you know what, I'm going to keep it anyway.
See David Pogue's iPhone opera.
The fact that developers are "inspired enough" to create an event like this without Apple's "support" is the case against Scoble's post, and by default Microsoft. Didn't Apple "support" the event by creating a product worth figuring out on your own?
In the movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley" Steve Jobs [Noah Wylie] says to Bill Gates [Anthony Michael Hall], who is walking away, "but our stuff is better", to which Bill turns around and says, "it doesn't matter".
Oh how times have changed.
I can play out a scenario where Bill Gates says, "but we have all of this developer support", to which the obvious reply is, "it doesn't matter."
If this were a Microsoft event the evangelism team would be here in force with T-shirts, stickers, free dev tools, tons of geeks who could help people figure out technical issues, and more. Look at how Microsoft dealt with Maker Faire, they sent the guy who builds Bill Gates? keynote demos to help out. THAT is how Microsoft got 90% market share.
Scoble makes the opposite point. Apple has created something so compelling, yes the iPhone, that events organize themselves around it, people wait in line even when they don't have too and even when it has serious flaws. AT&T anyone?
Has Microsoft ever done that? Arguably once, with Windows 95 and guess what, that was because people could finally get what they perceived to be a "cheap Mac." It had more to do with Apple's blunders than anything Microsoft did. DOS doesn't count because IBM's blunders gave Microsoft that opportunity. XBox doesn't count because it's not profitable.
Could Microsoft have created an iPhone. Not likely.
Clearly Apple is somewhat deluded about the prospects of maintaining the iPhone as a completely closed device (More on this topic later), but Apple is not the dogmatic company it once was. Steve may scream outloud that "the iPod will never be released on Windows" but when push comes to shove, Apple as a company makes happen what has to happen.
Does the iPhone Look So Great Because Everything Else is So Bad?:
It's easy to look at the iPhone and then reverse-engineer the arguments that would have killed it off at damn near any other company:Add to the list:
- "Consumers will reject a keyboard they can't feel."
- "No one will spend that much for a phone."
- "You can't expect people to get a new number online."
- "You can't succeed working with just one carrier."
- Apple didn't show up with stickers
The iPhone is flawed, make no mistake. AT&T is SO bad that I've considered returning my own iPhone. In spite of the flaws, it's a break-through product. Sure, it's possible that AT&T won't spend the 700,000 activation fees to put cells in my neighborhood, (even though it's in New York City) and it's possible that Safari will continue to crash every 10 minutes when I push it too hard, it's possible that the updates won't come in nearly as fast as I'd like them too, and it's possible that Apple will stick it to all of us early adopters by releasing a true 3G version before Christmas, and you know what, I'm going to keep it anyway.
See David Pogue's iPhone opera.
The fact that developers are "inspired enough" to create an event like this without Apple's "support" is the case against Scoble's post, and by default Microsoft. Didn't Apple "support" the event by creating a product worth figuring out on your own?
In the movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley" Steve Jobs [Noah Wylie] says to Bill Gates [Anthony Michael Hall], who is walking away, "but our stuff is better", to which Bill turns around and says, "it doesn't matter".
Oh how times have changed.
I can play out a scenario where Bill Gates says, "but we have all of this developer support", to which the obvious reply is, "it doesn't matter."
1 Comments:
Martin you are right on! Some people have likened the launch of the iPhone to the launch of Win95 and too be honest I think I'm not alone when I say the iPhone launch was a bigger deal. The deal is Apple didn't have to bang the drums as hard as MS in the iPhone case because people understand what a big deal this is... back in the 90's people had no clue what a big deal Windows 95 would be so MS had to build the hype themselves. I feel that apple gets held to a different standard then Microsoft. Anything short of 100% success and satisfaction and Apple gets bad press and for Microsoft anything short of a total failure and they get praise. Think Windows 95 and Zune. People seem to want to try as hard as they can to find the fault in Apple products almost as hard as people try to find the good in Microsoft's.
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