Apple:
Rivals

Microsoft offers Expression suite via Parallels

Posted on May. 9, ’08, 6:26 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Rivals

Head-scratch inducing actions are Microsoft’s reason for being lately. Most recently, they announced offering their Expression Professional Subscription in June would be available for $999. At one point, the original path based drawing tool Expression was a Mac native product. Now, only Expression Media (formerly known as iView Media Pro is a Mac product. The Microsoft solution? Run everything in virtualization.

Clearly, Microsoft has made a mistake here. The mistake is forgetting to rip Mac compatibility out of iView Media Pro Expression Media. How they could be that forgetful is beyond me. Recently, company after company has figured out ways to maintain the same application on multiple platforms, whether it’s by using an assisting technology like Qt or coming up with their own solution. These aren’t gigantic corporations.

Microsoft on the other hand can’t even maintain feature parity on their cashcow flagship products like Office (VBA support?). Microsoft has just taken that final step and included Parallels, effectively throwing their hands up in defeat. Considering the disaster that is Vista, maybe it’s time for a major management overhaul in Redmond because clearly something is broken (I’ll give you a hint, they’re including Windows XP in addition to Vista in the bundle; says something, doesn’t it?).

Google CEO’s heart may be in conflict

Posted on May. 7, ’08, 8:26 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Business

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, is one of Apple’s most prominent board members, but Arik Hesseldahl of Business Week wonders if the search company head will be able to keep his seat on the board with the increased competition between the two entities, especially when Google’s mobile phone initiative, Android, launches later this year.

While on Apple’s board, [Schmidt] already recuses himself from discussions that pertain to the iPhone, according to published reports. But exactly how effective a director of Apple can he be if he’s not allowed to know proprietary information that pertains to the product that brings in as much as one-third of Apple revenue?

The issue at stake here is conflict of interest: as an Apple director, Schmidt is responsible for making decisions in the best interests of Apple—but as Google CEO, he needs to do the same for them as well. And if Android becomes a serious competitor to the iPhone, then this problem will quickly move to the foreground, and the board may have to consider whether or not Schmidt will be able to remain.

Personally, we love Apple and Google being the bestest of buddies—they seem to get along well and have similar ideologies about designing good products, and Schmidty’s presence on the board is no doubt part of that. We’d be sad to see him go, if that’s what it came to, and for that reason—and that reason alone—we hope Android dies a quick, quiet death. Sorry, GOOG: it’s nothing personal.

Microsoft welcomes NBC into the Zune Social with the promise of more DRM

Posted on May. 6, ’08, 8:55 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Rivals

If you’re a Heroes or The Office fan, here’s some news you don’t want to hear. Nancy Gohring, in a story for IDG News Service, reports that NBC has struck a deal with the devil Microsoft to make their TV shows available on the Zune online store (yes, we’re just as surprised as you to hear that such a thing exists).

The videos will cost $1.99 each and customers will also get to choose from shows from Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Turner Broadcasting, and VH1, comprising a total of about 800 episodes.

If the price is going to be the same, why did NBC not return to the iTunes Store itself then? The devil is in the details—Microsoft lured them away with the promise of flexible pricing and more serious measures to fight off piracy (in other words, more DRM). This means that NBC may choose to sell certain episodes at higher or lower rates, something that Apple wouldn’t allow.

Julio Estrada, General Manager for Zune Social, hinted that this service might in future be made available to Xbox users too. In the meanwhile, your only way to watch those shows on your Xbox setup is to connect your Zune (after you buy one) to the device.

This doesn’t sound good to me. If NBC is striking deals with companies like Microsoft, it might mean that it isn’t too unhappy about not being on the iTunes Store and it isn’t going to come running back into Apple’s arms, like we’d hoped.

That’s a shame, really, because NBC does have some pretty good shows, even though Heroes took a dreadful downturn in the second season. Let’s hope these kids stop their little squabbles and just get along.

Apple gaining on Microsoft in cash money

Posted on May. 5, ’08, 9:20 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Money

You know, I think I’m doing pretty well when it comes to saving: I don’t spend a lot of money, I’ve got some investments, and I’ve put some money away for retirement. But just when I’m feeling pleased with myself, I find out that Apple’s got almost $20 billion in the bank. Among big tech companies, that puts Apple in the number two three spot behind their favorite rival, Microsoft, whose own piggy bank is stuffed to the gills with over $26 billion, and networking giant Cisco, with $22.7 billion. In third and fourth fourth and fifth place are Google and IBM, both with about $12 billion.

That’s a whole lot of cash. But what exactly can Apple do with $20 billion? Well, aside from anything it wants. Over at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Todd Bishop discusses the differences between how Microsoft and Apple treat their cash reserves.

Apple has historically built its business from the ground up, preferring smaller strategic acquisitions of technology and talent. If the company continues to follow that pattern, that means it’s not likely to reduce its cash pile through a blockbuster deal.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has engaged in stock buybacks and dividends. Not to mention, their cash is a little safer now that the proposed Yahoo merger is out of the question. Apple has not traditionally gone down these roads, partially, as Bishop points out, because of Steve Jobs’s penchant for financial stability given Apple’s ups and downs in the past.

For all the talk of Apple buying huge companies like Adobe or Yahoo, I think they’re on the right track with their smaller, targeted purchases (i.e. PA Semi) and pumping money into their own R&D budget, while keeping the vast majority of their cash on hand just in case. Think different? Sound off below.

Update: Seattle P-I later updated their story to add Cisco, who has almost $23 billion in cash reserves, so we’ve updated as well. Because all the cool kids are doing it.

Microsoft may go hostile on Yahoo…right after lunch

Posted on May. 2, ’08, 9:03 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Business

As a special treat, we now bring you an excerpt from MacUser’s upcoming first published collection, The Zen of Steve Ballmer. The Wall Street Journal talked with the Microsoft CEO, including asking him about a potential hostile takeover of Yahoo.

“With the right circumstances it’ll happen. Without the right circumstances it won’t happen,” said [Ballmer].

After that profound observation, a loud gong was sounded, but Ballmer quickly explained that merely meant that his lunch was ready. His lunch of pure, unsullied souls. Topped with a chipotle spread and a little lemon. Mmm.

Word on the street says that were Microsoft to launch a hostile bid on Yahoo, it could happen as soon as today. In fact, it may be happening as you read this. If you listen very quietly, perhaps you will be able to make out the distant ringing of the gong that indicates Ballmer is once again on the warpath.

[via Macworld]

Microsoft to cloak XP sales as those of Windows Vista

Posted on Apr. 28, ’08, 11:14 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Business

The hits just keep coming for Windows Vista and Microsoft and they’re not the only ones suffering due to them. Dell, in an attempt to satisfy customer demands, has announced that Windows XP will be offered as an option to customers even after June 30th, the day Microsoft officially halts sales of the operating system.

On the surface, that sounds lovely but it’s the details where matters get sketchy. To be able to offer this convenience, Dell’s going to use Microsoft’s “downgrade” license, which allows PC vendors to provide XP under the Vista license. In the words of Ephraim Schwartz, of sister site InfoWorld, this means that “the user is buying a Vista license that it can apply to XP, and Microsoft can still claim a Vista sale”.

That’s a cheap, underhanded tactic if ever there was one. It’s a convenient way for Microsoft to report misleadingly inflated sales numbers of Windows Vista, even though a lot of those sales numbers potentially apply to customers who bought the OS with no intention of using it.

In other words, every copy of Windows sold after June 30th, whether it be of XP or Vista, will be reported by Microsoft as sales of Windows Vista, and the company will use that to show how popular the OS is. Don’t be surprised to hear some fantastically high numbers from Microsoft later this year. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “two for the price of one”, doesn’t it?

Insert lame Mesh pun here

Posted on Apr. 24, ’08, 12:01 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Apple » Rivals

Microsoft is constantly innovating, designing new, revolutionary, market-creating products that take the public by storm and change the way we view and use technology, like the [insert several high-profile Microsoft flops that completely contradict what I just wrote].

And their machine-gun approach to product-creation has spawned yet another Sure Thing Success™: Live Mesh, an online service (now in private preview testing) designed to integrate a user’s digital life. From ReadWriteWeb:

Live Mesh synchronizes data across multiple devices (currently just Windows computers, but theoretically it will extend to mobile and other devices in the future) as well as to a web desktop that exists in the cloud. It can sync data across devices used by a single users, as well as create shared spaces for multiple users.

Well, it sounds [insert tongue-in-cheek praise of Live Mesh, backhandedly emphasizing Microsoft’s utter inability to turn their grandiose concept services into viable and functional mass-consumer products].

Live Mesh works by aggregating “feeds” from the user’s various devices — almost anything can be added to the Mesh, like files and folders and messages, and it’s rendered as a piece of information that is then relayed to the user in a “news feed” that lists all updates to his Mesh. [insert sarcastic joke about how simple and straightforward the whole thing is while simultaneously conveying the idea that Microsoft can’t do anything without making it unnecessarily convoluted].

Live Mesh does put an interesting spin on the concept of multi-machine synchronization, and the way it presents synced info may actually be useful to folks who’ve had a problem with managing files across their digital armada.

You can get more info (and watch a demo) on Live Mesh at the preview site, and at ReadWriteWeb. Knowing Microsoft’s strength in shipping concept platforms, [insert joke about how Live Mesh will probably never get out of “tech preview,” and this post was really just a waste of everyone’s time].

[via Slashdot]

Sony and Gracenote to make beautiful music together

Posted on Apr. 23, ’08, 8:08 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Music

Sony has long been desperate to get its foot in the door of online media. But, as they say: if it at first you don’t succeed, consider acquisition. Yesterday, Sony shelled out $260 million to buy Gracenote. If that name sounds familiar, it ought to: Gracenote maintains the archive once known as the CDDB, the source for that “Get CD Track Names” you’ll find in iTunes.

According to Sony, Gracenote will remain more or less intact, continuing to provide its services to the many vendors that use them (including Sony itself). You may also recall that as of a couple of years ago, Gracenote also has a deal in place with the record companies that allow it to provide lyrics as well, a feature that has not yet been leveraged in iTunes, despite the existence of a Lyrics metadata field.

Does the acquisition mean anything for Mac users? Given Apple and Sony’s current relationship (which we’ll call one of frenmityship), we don’t really think so—at present. Then again, if Sony follows its usual game plan, expect it to turn Gracenote into a qualitatively better but ultimately unsuccessful proprietary format.

Apple trails Google, Microsoft in brand power

Posted on Apr. 21, ’08, 10:08 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Business

Perhaps we’ve grown complacent, but we’ve become used to Apple walking away with top marks in brand surveys. So we were a little surprised, upon the release of market-research firm Millard Brown Optimor’s most powerful brands list, to find that Apple didn’t even find its way into the top five.

I guess it shouldn’t be too shocking to find that Google held down the number one spot, for its third year in a row, followed by GE. But oh noes, is that Microsoft in third place? Well, I guess when your goal is world domination, you’re bound to be known in a few places. Behind the top three were Coca-Cola, China Mobile, and Big Blue itself, IBM (I have to admit that I’m impressed that IBM is still holding so strong these days). And then, we’ve got Apple in at lucky number seven, with a valuation $55.2 billion—nothing to sneeze at, as they still outranked McDonald’s, Nokia, and Marlboro (that’s right, Macs are better than smoking—you heard it here first). Apple did, however, kick tuchus in the brand value growth department, with 123%.

A bunch of other tech companies made the list elsewhere, including HP, Cisco, Intel, Dell, and BlackBerry (but not RIM, interestingly enough). You can check out the full 29 page report (PDF link) if you want the breakdown, including how they determine the valuation. About time, too: I was having trouble falling asleep last night.

Embarrassing Microsoft music video was a “spoof”, doesn’t make it any less embarrassing

Posted on Apr. 17, ’08, 7:00 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Rivals

The tech world was up in arms over Microsoft’s tasteless, unfunny, and just plain painful “Rocking Our Sales” by “Bruce ServicePack and the Vista Street Band” video that circulated internally through Microsoft and found its way onto YouTube. Well, it turns out it was all just a spoof by those lovable, clueless geeks at Redmond.

“This video was a spoof (believe it or not),” said a Microsoft representative familiar with the reason behind the production. Apparently, it was a way for Microsoft to have some fun at its own expense.

“They thought folks internally would get a kick out of not taking themselves so seriously all the time, but some people thought that’s exactly what they were being—serious. Anyway, this little piece of art came to life and has caused quite a few laughs in Microsoft’s hallways.”

This still, in my book, doesn’t detract from the pain and suffering undergone by the thousands, nay millions of innocent people who had to sit through this garbage. Oh Microsoft, even your spoofs suck.

[Via crave]