Friday, November 23, 2012

Tech rumble: Windows 8 vs. iOS vs. Android

This actually sums up the battle pretty well:
It's absolutely true, as my former colleague Tom Dale argues, that Apple remains weak in web services and Google continues to stumble in user experience. The problem, as he articulates, is that "Google is getting better at design faster than Apple is getting better at web services," but both are making progress. If Microsoft steps back to focus solely on Windows 8, rather than seamlessly weaving into it web services and winning hardware design, then Microsoft stands to be the jack of all trades, and master of none. That's not a winning strategy in mobile. Not yet, anyway.
Hastings continues:
The challenge for [Microsoft] is: okay, what’s the profit stream, if the marketshare is different than it has been in the past? The big profit streams are from very high-share products — Office and Windows. So to the degree that the eventual revenue is not the same split as in the past, then there’s a threat to the profit stream.
Exactly... and guess what? Microsoft's primary revenue streams absolutely will be different from those it enjoyed in the past. As I've argued recently, Microsoft's Office suite is no longer the primary means of creating valuable business data/content. That's revenue stream number one in jeopardy. It's also the case that in mobile, the big market going forward, no one buys operating systems. Apple makes it part of the iPhone/iPad experience for free, and Android, of course, is open source. That's Microsoft's second big revenue stream eviscerated.
Android has come a long way in the past 12 months.  I ditched an older Android 2.2 because it was clunky; #1 Son is in love with his Galaxy III.  Apple has fumbled very badly with their epic fail mapping app - this is one of the most valuable apps for a smart phone, and Apple's simply doesn't inspire confidence.

And I had a bit of an out of body experience in the last few days.  I was driving around with #1 Son who was playing MP3s.  Suddenly the music cut out and a voice said In one quarter mile, turn right.  Woah - directions that talk to us? 

Of course, this is ten year old technology.  You just don't get it on your iPhone.  Android FTW.

As to Microsoft, it doesn't appear that any of their corporate customers are remotely interested in Windows 8.  That's the Windows and Office profit streams that are divorced from the core technology stream.  Maybe they'll pull it off.  Maybe.

This is actually turning into a very interesting horse race.

7 comments:

Old NFO said...

Yeah, i don't think 'we' are going anywhere off Win 7...

aczarnowski said...

If we could only get to Android 4 on our Verizon Thunderbolts. Bastards holding back upgrades.

Verizon is on very shaky ground when our next upgrade cycle comes around.

Unknown said...

Whaaaa? Ios6 has talking directions. Also, ios6's mapping app has been more reliable for me than the old google backed =< ios5 map app. Googles direction s constantly gave me bum data. The new app has screwed up a few times, twice I think. If you're going to point out flaws, at least have some experience using the product, don't rely on the tech press to get it right. They want clicks, not truth.

Broken Andy said...

I'm not sure where this Google Maps is better than Apple Maps thing comes from. Perhaps it was once true but I'm not seeing it. Today I had to wind myself into the countryside of middle Virginia. I looked up my destination on Google Maps before hitting the road and it had me doing some funky turns that didn't seem right. On the other hand, Apple Maps guided me directly to location with turn-by-turn instructions and knowing the proper names for roads that Google only had road numbers for.

instinct said...

I have an iPhone because it was more reliable than the Android phones that were out at the time, but I put TomTom on it so I get the turn by turn and no map fail.

Sure, it was $50, but better than the alternative.

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

"As to Microsoft, it doesn't appear that any of their corporate customers are remotely interested in Windows 8."

Windows 8? Heck, the only reason I have Windows 7 on my computer at work is that our IT guy couldn't get a license to install XP! And, go figure, I have constant problems with one of our critical programs frequently crashing because it doesn't like Win7. Upgrade the program? That's about a $6000 outlay for a 5 person business, so it's not going to happen anytime soon.

Throw in the necessary training and inevitable lost productivity that will come with the radically different UI in Win8, and it's obvious why businesses are going to avoid it like the plague. They might go with Win9 when equipment replacement forces the issue in a couple of years, but most business are going to stick with Win7 for as long as possible.

Rakesh Rathod said...

We should really wait on how Microsoft can dominate the tablet world with it's Windows 8 OS. There are times when iOS is powerful for smartphones, but Android is becoming popular with it's apps. Now Windows Store is not lagging behind and it's an interesting battle to watch between the 3 vendors. But as a Unix enthusiast, I would like to see how Ubuntu can match Windows 8? http://www.pallareviews.com/1691/windows-8-vs-ubuntu/