Apple News, Analysis and Podcasts

Microsoft's latest pursuit is yet another sign that Apple is tearing them up. The company from Redmond is rumored to be in pursuit of buying out (or heavily investing in) Skype. If you are a user of Skype you may have noticed their latest updates are pretty much deplorable with regard to user interface, and their video quality typically stinks when compared to Tango or Apple's Facetime.

Based on Microsoft's track record, I can only assume they will purchase Skype, repurpose it for "Windows Phone 7 Extreme Plus Home Edition" and market it as: Windows PeopleTime – The Windows you love, now with video chat... Please.

As our friends at MacDailyNews often say "May Steve Ballmer remain Microsoft CEO for as long as it takes". We couldn't state it better ourselves. As long as Ballmer is in charge of Microsoft, no one in the tech industry has anything to worry about. Taking a look at Microsoft's failed programs of the recent past reveals how badly Apple has wounded the tech giant, forcing them to play constant catch-up.

The current foundation of failure within Redmond's walls exists in the form of Bing. RIM just signed a deal last week to make Bing their default search engine on forthcoming Blackberry devices, and Nokia recently inked a deal with Microsoft to deploy Windows Phone 7 by years end. Why would these companies make such deals with Microsoft? It isn't because Microsoft offers some great product the market demands. RIM and Nokia are desperate for cash and Microsoft is desperate for some form of relevance, thus poor deals are made. RIM and Nokia are not likely to benefit from their Microsoft ventures, while Mr. Softie will continue their cash nose-bleed.

M$ is paying big dollars to get Bing searches. According to a recent report, every $1 made with Bing is costing Microsoft $3. Microsoft lost roughly $3 billion last year in pursuit of search relevance. Sounds like another financial winner on Microsoft's hands, much like the xBOX and Zune franchises...

Meanwhile, Apple continues it's assault on the Windows platform. What was once a small Mac nibble Microsoft choose to ignore, Apple has topped the PC industry market share growth for the past 20 quarters in a row. But it isn't just the Mac that continues to eat away Windows sales, it's the iPad that is taking chunks out of Windows licenses from would-be netbook and laptop sales.

The back-to-school educational buying season is going to prove even more devastating for Microsoft, and another rocket-ship of success for Apple. But Microsoft, ever positive, will no doubt view this time as their turning point back to relevance in the mobile space. Nokia will launch Windows phones! RIM will have Bing search deployed on their devices as the default! Apple's iPhone 5 won't arrive until the fall! Yeah!!! Rah, rah, rah! Developers! Developer! Developers!

Why don't we just call this the Summer of George... errr, Microsoft.

1 Comment

1. thibaulthalpern ~ May 10, 2011 05:16
   One thing I hate about Windows branding is the names. Indeed, you're right to say they might come out with something named Windows Phone 7 Extreme Office Edition. Other names will be something like Windows Phone 7 Ultra Office Professional Edition. Why always sticking to the name Windows? Second, why so many extraneous adjectives like home, office, profession, edition, extreme, media, etc.

Leave your reply