Microsoft buying Nokia

[uebermann]

[eric]

I don't have time to reply to all your points in detail, so I apologize, but there are a couple I wanted to respond to:

1. The backtracking with Xbox One was a mistake. They could have just explained the system better, but otherwise it was great. Getting rid of physical
media and introducing digital sharing, and online rental would have helped the evolution of home entertainment. Now it's just delayed because of a whole bunch of whiny luddites, who otherwise surrender their software libraries to companies, were too retarded to understand what Microsoft was trying to do.

2. Microsoft can deliver. The mobile OS is just fine. The issue is that a partnership like they had isn't good enough for seamless integration. For these devices to truly excel the hardware and software must be designed in conjunction. This is nothing like the Zune. The Zune isn't necessary for company survival, mobile is. The evolution of their products completely depends on mobile support, device-device integration, and cloud.

3. People don't buy Apple products solely because they're trendy. Some may (just as some people buy Android products because it's trendy to try and be anti-trendy), but many people buy them because they like the integration, and they like the operating systems. I prefer MacOS over Windows very much. I prefer iOS over Android. They're all pretty good, but I couldn't care less about what other people think about what products use. Your entire Apple fanboy argument is just nonsense. There's absolutely no basis for it.

4. The reason that Apple products are successful isn't just because of the OS. It's because of the integration with the hardware. Being able to control both means they create a user experience. Regardless of whether you like it or not, the point is that consumers today want an experience, and/or a product that is enjoyable to use.

For this reason, Google bought Motorola and is releasing Android based phones through them. It's very plain to see. Once the product matures, Motorola phones will be the best Android phone on the market, unless Google surrenders the platform to advertisements and telecom branding.

5. No I'm not kidding. If you pay any attention, you'll see that desktop market is shrinking year after year, and pretty substantial too I might add. If Microsoft simply focuses on delivering to that arena, they will just continue to surrender business to mobile platforms. And for a large portion of "business", a tablet is all they need. So as mobile devices continue to replace desktop devices, Microsoft (without entering the market) just relegates them to what will eventually be a niche. Sure they still have server stuff, but the trend is toward servers, those who operate them, those who need "power" devices, and everybody else having something like a tablet.

[spacemonkey]

So the next phone will be a Microkia?

[uebermann]

[uebermann]

[eric]

1. Microsoft didn't make a mistake. Customers are just dumb. "herp derp what if I don't have internets derpity derp" - Same problems with Steam. Get over it.

2.
a. Don't even know what the Kin is. So not a big deal.
b. Your assessment of the success of Microsoft's products is skewed. If you're going to go all the way back to the Zune, you may as well include Kinect and Xbox 360, as well as Office, which have been stellar successes.
c. I didn't say tablets were all going to replace desktop work PCs specifically. The larger issue is just the decline in desktop sales, regardless of who uses them.

3. Idk, maybe you're just out of touch. Nobody is like, oh man I have to get an iPhone or a Mac because it's cool and trendy. If anything, having what everybody else has makes you not trendy and cool. People buy the products because they believe it to be superior value, or they enjoy the product.

4. It is true. The reason Android is more popular (and again, looking at the entire OS, because if you compare company vs company Apple dominates the competition) is because it's available at all price points and on a plethora of models. Google and Microsoft have realized that if they want their product to be successful in the long run, and not contaminated by Blockbuster apps and MyVerizon services they have to ensure that the product shipped is made how they intend. Their designs are superior to anything Samsung, HTC, or whatever can put out.

5. Android is broke, and they are fixing it. Hence Motorola acquisition. Look, if you buy your phone and you have to modify the operating system as a consumer, it's broke and things aren't going as intended. It necessarily implies that when sold, the device (OS or whatever) lacks the features the consumers want. And Android is shipped on plenty of phones that are absolutely garbage. Go look at the low and mid tier Android phones. I'd rather not have a phone than have to experience that garbage.

6. I don't need to provide a link because it's a pretty well known thing. Year - year PC sales (not just desktop, laptops too) are in sharp decline. I never stated that tablets were exclusively eating work-pc sales. The concern for Microsoft isn't work PCs, it's consumer devices. If they fade out of the consumer market, they lose the game.

[uebermann]

[uebermann]

BTW, how those MS stocks holding up?

[eric]

Stocks don't matter as a gauge of how good the business strategy is. Apple makes money hand over fist, stocks went down. Facebook is worth money or whatever somehow.

There's nothing objective about it. Stocks are just gambling and emotional reactions.

[exploited]

The innovation thing doesn't work unless you have a profitable base to subsidize it from. Google and Apple are capable of innovating because they have their main businesses on lockdown. Microsoft, on the other hard, is all over the place, doing many things okay but none of them really, really well. To jump into the mobile market when they can capture, at absolute most, 20% of the market... is complete retardation. There is no other way to look at it.

The only things that make them money are being ignored. They need to refocus on their core business, lest they pull a Blackberry and have to try to innovate themselves out of an impossible hole.

Also, lol at the suggestion that stocks don't matter. And the suggestion that brand doesn't matter, it is all about quality... there is no doubt that you aren't a business person, lol. That is just some straight delusional shit right there.