Full FeedMicrosoft on iPhone: “We’re still playing catch-up”
It isn’t too often you hear Microsoft praising Apple, or their iPhone. Few may remember this, but the CEO of Microsoft Steve Balmer said in 2007 that, “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share,” in an interview with USA Today. In many parts of the world, the iPhone has captured significant marketshare. Especially Japan, where the iPhone has 46% of the Japan smartphone market.
Recently Windows Mobile was compared to the iPhone at the Connect! tech summit in London and much praise was made to the iPhone OS, by Microsoft UK’s Head of Mobility, Phil Moore.
Here’s what he had to say:
“We’re still playing catch-up. When Apple came on to the scene a couple of years ago, it threw away the rulebook and reinvented it. We unfortunately don’t have that luxury. It’s true, Apple caught us all napping. It launched something that was very iconic, new and unseen with a very good user interface.”
Hearing the quote at first made me wonder why a company with so many resources couldn’t keep up with Apple. Thinking over it, Microsoft has many enterprise users who rely on certain products, and having them reinvented is not something Microsoft can afford to do. Apple started fresh with a brand new, ahead-of-the-times mobile OS, while Microsoft already had an outdated mobile operating system. If they were to just trash it, that would force companies using it to retrain employees, spend more money and create a new infrastructure.
I’ve heard it said many times that small start-ups can innovate more easily when compared to big companies like Google and Microsoft. If YouTube were to roll out a new feature for chatting, for example, it could put a larger load on servers, annoy users, and then hurt YouTube’s brand.
Going back to Phil Moore’s comment; He didn’t go without mentioning that Windows Mobile 7 will promise more usability. However, we’ll be waiting a bit longer as it has been pushed to 2010.
Via [Cult of Mac]
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Give me a break. Apple isn’t a ‘small startup’. It is a huge corporation with enough pocket change to buy Dell. The difference between Apple and Microsoft is that Apple innovates and Microsoft is a viciim of it’s own ‘success’. You’re on the money when you say that because MS is the 800lb gorilla it can’t afford to turn on a dime, but Apple didn’t do that either. Apple took a look at an existing, mature market and redefined it. Microsoft has never done this. Their business plan is to BE the 800lb gorilla, nee monopoly. Without any other mindset they are doomed to failure at any innovation. In fact, since their monopoly is slipping they are simply doomed.
on December 26, 2009 at 12:10 PM - LINK@David.
I must’ve worded that section wrong. I didn’t mean to say that Apple was a small startup, but that they had a fresh start, whereas Microsoft already had a phone OS, which they couldn’t just throw away.
However, Apple’s app developer for the App Store are the small developers. If one bad app comes along it won’t hurt Apple’s brand greatly (many after many times bad apps), or it won’t put a strain on resources.
You’re correct, Apple is trying to become the “800lb gorilla.” They’re trying to take over more and more of our life. First the computer, then our music with the iPod, our living room with the Apple TV, our Phones and maybe soon our information with MobileMe.
on December 27, 2009 at 03:46 PM - LINK