Tag Archive for 'Microsoft'

Apple’s AppStore: Results and the Kill Switch Debacle

Published
by
Ainsworth Boyle
on August 12, 2008
in Industry News
. 0 Comments

Last week, The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting article that covered some of the breaking news surrounding Apple’s AppStore and the 3G iPhone. Without a doubt, the initial statistics are impressive: $30 million in sales in the first month and 3 million 3G iPhones sold. I’ve used the AppStore several times, for both free and purchased applications (Tetris and Stagehand), and I am confident I’ll continue to purchase useful applications. I will admit, however, that I’ve cleared out several useless downloads (i.e. flashlight) from the first week with the phone. But amid the great news are several developers who are unhappy with Apple’s ability to remotely disable a program.

Thanks to the AppStore and iPhone OS X 2.0, the iPhone is the next frontier in software development. As I mentioned in my last Blackberry vs. iPhone articlethe system comparison has come down to an OS war. In his latest interview, Steve Job’s added, “Phone differentiation used to be about radios and antennas and things like that. We think, going forward, the phone of the future will be differentiated by software.” (Credit TUAW)

Knowing that the Apple’s iPhone strategy has created a gold mine for powerful mobile applications, why are developers so unhappy with the remote disable feature? It seems like more developers are jumping on the, “It’s a conspiracy!” wagon than the, “That’s smart OS development!” wagon. I was taken back by one blogger assuring this was Apple’s ability to disable all MS applications in one pull. Why would Apple do that?

Have AppStore developers forgotten one of the key reasons people are switching to Apple?! Apple integrates any and all necessary features to ensure the OS cannot be compromised or difficult to use. This is not Apple admitting they have a faulty screening process (we’ll give them a pass on the I Am Rich app); this is Apple protecting the OS that has created legitimate business opportunity for mobile developers (complete with Location Based Services).

This is not Apple’s desire to be able to shut down their competitor’s applications; they don’t need that. Apple is simply trying to avoid destroying the full-potential of mobile apps.

- Ainsworth

Can Facebook Save Microsoft?

Published
by
Ainsworth Boyle
on July 28, 2008
in Trends & Research
. 0 Comments

Steve Ballmer is in an interesting situation. This past week he’s had to address tough challenges with two of Microsoft’s biggest competitors: Apple and Google. Translation: mobile, search, and advertising.

In his most recent letter to employees, Ballmer specifically addressed Apple, Yahoo!, and Google. As many know, Ballmer has pretty much called it quits on their bid for Yahoo!. In the meantime, Apple has continued to grab chunks of the PC market, and the iPhone is dominating the smartphone world.

Ballmer has announced Microsoft’s intent to spend a lot of money acquiring companies to heal their search engine wounds several times. So far they’ve acted, investing $240 million into Facebook (Oct. 2007), and there are reports that the relationship is becoming even closer. This isn’t a bad move from Microsoft. They can’t seem to buy their way back into the search engine ranks just yet, and they need to find exposure for their ad network.

But I wonder: is Microsoft really getting the most out of their relationship with Facebook? Most of what Ballmer has talked about has been purchasing to compete with Google, instead of researching and redesigning. It reminds me of the Intuit vs. Microsoft story (see: Inside Intuit). Back when Intuit was first designing Quicken, they beat Microsoft by effectively researching the target demographic and designing a product to meet their needs. In contrast, Microsoft approached the issue by designing Microsoft Money the way they felt software should work. In the end, Microsoft’s extremely high marketing budget would fail to get Money to consumers, and Intuit’s better designed product won out. For me, that story has been a big lesson: understand who you are designing your product for.

Apple and Google have succeeded by understanding the needs of their audience. The iPhone OS is more intuitive and stable than Windows Mobile, and Google search actually pulls up legitimate results. Microsoft needs to spend more time looking at their audience and designing their product appropriately. They actually did very well with the XBox; it’s not a surprise this was designed through a separate product development process.

Facebook can be a saving grace for Microsoft, but not in the way they seem to be working right now. Instead, Microsoft needs to take full advantage of its exposure to 70+ million web consumers and allow them to influence their next product. The information age has changed, no longer can Microsoft be the second or third mover and expect to succeed by throwing more money at the problem.

- Ainsworth