Liberty Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Thanks for the clarification. You might very well be right. Nokia (Microsoft) certainly is more differentiated than many other mobile players out there and has lots of hardware talent. The question is, can they overcome the ecosystem challenge, as well as Microsoft's culture which isn't very well suited to making consumer products? That will be tough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texual Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Their problem is perception. Moving away from 'Windows' toward a 'Surface' type product, where 'Xbox' is just Xbox, Surface is a tablet and Surface Phones would eradicate the Windows part, only in name. The underlying soul is the services like the App store that lets you buy or get an App once, and it works for your phone, tablet and pc or xbox. Thats the dream, at least. Another underlying service is Office. Its just another App at some point, isnt it? They cannot monetize the operating system anymore especially if you believe as I do, that Microsoft will be selling its own hardware. This is a painful time but I can see in some future day, someone gets on stage and talks about 'selling Surface' devices by the hundreds of millions the same way Tim Cook says they've sold hundreds of millions of 'iOS' devices to date. The money is in the hardware, and then the services. I believe Apple did not capture the services equation to the extent that Microsoft has the ability to do so. Xbox Live is a perfect example of them selling a service that millions pay for. And look, PS4 now suddenly wants to charge users too (for multiplayer). Worlds changing fast man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Interesting take on Elop. Never knew much about him. But I'm skeptical he will get to extract Bing & Xbox as they are so core to MS' strategy. Bing seems to be at a point where it is good enough to be competitive, but not very profitable, but there are a number of avenues where it can grow - Twitter, Yahoo, Apple/Siri, and organic growth to Windows Phone. I would prefer if MS wanted to cut costs, they cut down on MS Research. As for CEO, I believe they should go down the "visionary" but running a giant corporation like this is beyond the capabilities and vision of one man, so a "three kings" strategy may well work. In my opinion the most qualified person to run MS is Paul Maritz, and a partnership of him with Mullally (Executive Chairman?) could potentially be great. If internal, I hope its Nadella, with Lu and Bates as lieutenants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bargainman Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Texual, I'm not sure I agree after reading the articles written by the former Nok exec.. http://seekingalpha.com/article/916271-how-stephen-elop-destroyed-nokia http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2012/07/the-sun-tzu-of-nokisoftian-microkia-mirror-mirror-on-the-wall-whose-the-baddest-of-them-all-waterloo.html To me he sounds egotistical and wanting to be visionary. He wants to make a bold move, but that's not necessarily the right financial thing to do. He just wants to do it so he can be seen as a visionary or bold CEO. Dam the torpedoes if you will. I know some of this from his days at a previous company he worked at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frommi Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Their problem is perception. Moving away from 'Windows' toward a 'Surface' type product, where 'Xbox' is just Xbox, Surface is a tablet and Surface Phones would eradicate the Windows part, only in name. The underlying soul is the services like the App store that lets you buy or get an App once, and it works for your phone, tablet and pc or xbox. Thats the dream, at least. Another underlying service is Office. Its just another App at some point, isnt it? They cannot monetize the operating system anymore especially if you believe as I do, that Microsoft will be selling its own hardware. This is a painful time but I can see in some future day, someone gets on stage and talks about 'selling Surface' devices by the hundreds of millions the same way Tim Cook says they've sold hundreds of millions of 'iOS' devices to date. The money is in the hardware, and then the services. I believe Apple did not capture the services equation to the extent that Microsoft has the ability to do so. Xbox Live is a perfect example of them selling a service that millions pay for. And look, PS4 now suddenly wants to charge users too (for multiplayer). Worlds changing fast man. I really hope that MS doesn`t do that. Copying AAPLs business model will be a huge mistake in my eyes. MS has made so much money in the last twenty years because people are used to Windows and Office and are willing to pay for its usage. The moat around these two income sources is so huge, that other vendors can`t compete without giving away their software for free. Hardware prices are falling left and right and its really hard to keep up the prices, where in software that is not really a problem because of the moat. (Look at iphone margins, pc vendors, most chip producers etc. etc.). IBM has the right strategy, they focus now more on software and less on hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 The money is in the hardware, and then the services. I believe Apple did not capture the services equation to the extent that Microsoft has the ability to do so. Xbox Live is a perfect example of them selling a service that millions pay for. Devices and Services? I like the fact that MS is not ready to give up the consumer space. Some have been calling for them to give it up and focus on the enterprise. But then what happens when Google, Apple, and Amazon start attacking the enterprise? We will get another Blackberry. Integrating software and hardware is a great idea for the consumer segment, but enterprise is a different story IMO. But I can see them push the Surface Pro as an enterprise class device. You can use it as a tablet, and you can plug it into your screen and get a desktop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hellsten Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Ballmer on Ballmer: His Exit From Microsoft http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303460004579194150724298162-lMyQjAxMTAzMDEwNDExNDQyWj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpadebet Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Ballmer on Ballmer: His Exit From Microsoft http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303460004579194150724298162-lMyQjAxMTAzMDEwNDExNDQyWj Hilarious It could as well be an article from the onion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fareastwarriors Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-19/bill-gates-met-with-a-lot-of-microsoft-ceo-candidates.html Bill Gates Met With ‘a Lot’ of Microsoft CEO Candidates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest valueInv Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Microsoft has just entered a promising new business: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/cat/Scroogled/categoryID.67575900 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fareastwarriors Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-20/bill-gates-should-return-to-lead-microsoft-schwab-says.html Bill Gates Should Return to Lead Microsoft, Schwab Says Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest valueInv Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Stay classy MSFT: http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/26/microsoft-taps-pawn-stars-guys-to-make-fun-of-chromebook/ Or not. ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wachtwoord Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Stay classy MSFT: http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/26/microsoft-taps-pawn-stars-guys-to-make-fun-of-chromebook/ Or not. ;D That whole campaign is sad and hypocritical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wellmont Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 chromebooks are eating their lunch. 3 out of the top 5 bestselling low priced notebooks on amazon are chromebooks. and they and chrome are only getting better. perhaps a merging of android and chrome will make them competitive with ultrabooks. lucky they still have the Microsoft Enterprise segment where customers are locked in. for now. all of these new screens, new appliance computers (phones tablets chromebooks) take time away from using Windows. the need for windows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest valueInv Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 chromebooks are eating their lunch. 3 out of the top 5 bestselling low priced notebooks on amazon are chromebooks. and they and chrome are only getting better. perhaps a merging of android and chrome will make them competitive with ultrabooks. lucky they still have the Microsoft Enterprise segment where customers are locked in. for now. all of these new screens, new appliance computers (phones tablets chromebooks) take time away from using Windows. the need for windows. I went to the corner tech store and asked the salesman about laptop sales. He said that 6 out of 10 top selling laptops were Windows laptops. Hence, I concluded that MSFT has nothing to worry about. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fareastwarriors Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-28/microsoft-board-said-to-lean-to-mulally-nadella-in-ceo-search.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Down 4%, I wonder what's up. Maybe a CEO decision leak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
writser Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Ford director Edsel Ford II tells Bloomberg Alan Mulally, widely reported to be a top candidate (if not the frontrunner) to replace Steve Ballmer as Microsoft's CEO, won't be leaving until the end of 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fareastwarriors Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/technology/personaltech/two-winning-tablets-and-from-microsoft-no-less.html?ref=business&_r=0 Microsoft Produces a Winner in Tablets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txlaw Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Microsoft considers free versions of Windows Phone and Windows RT to battle Android: http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/11/5199446/microsoft-considers-free-versions-windows-phone-windows-rt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wellmont Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 this is why they need to sell devices. because their OS software is losing value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I thought they shouldn't be selling devices and be focusing on Windows. wait... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frommi Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 And i thought they should be focusing on Office, because that is where their biggest moat and money comes from. Ask a secretary which "Office" software he/she knows and can work with and in 99% you get the same answer. And because switching costs are so high, GOOG/AAPL or some years ago OpenOffice can give their software away for free and don`t change anything for MS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benchmark Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 And i thought they should be focusing on Office, because that is where their biggest moat and money comes from. Ask a secretary which "Office" software he/she knows and can work with and in 99% you get the same answer. And because switching costs are so high, GOOG/AAPL or some years ago OpenOffice can give their software away for free and don`t change anything for MS. Office's moat is not as big as you think. All the schools are switching to APPL/GOOG products, and all small companies are using Google Apps. The tide is changing slowly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest valueInv Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 this is why they need to sell devices. because their OS software is losing value. And their devices are losing money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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