All Articles Tagged Microsoft

Okay, so it’s not PC, it’s John Hodgman, the actor who plays (brilliantly) PC in the highly successful “Get a Mac” ads from Apple. But as Engadget shows, it’s definitely an iPhone he’s using.

Of course, that should come as no surprise, given Microsoft’s market share, most iPhone users are Windows-based on the PC side. Makes sense then, that their commercial avatar loves him some mobile OS X as well!

The conspiracy minded among us, however, might just find it odd that this spy pick comes our way just in time for Microsoft’s latest ill-conceived step down their $300 million advertising sink hole. Word to Redmond: I’m a PC too. Now stop embarrassing me with this “me too” nonsense, get some therapy for the Apple and Google envy (seriously, you’re like 10x their size, it’s time to act like it), and stick to making great products. The rest will really take care of itself…

Look, advertising is a mysterious thing, okay? It takes some crazy genius can figure out how to make you want things without you even realizing that’s what’s happening. Any Don Draper monologue can tell you that.

But, as Rene asked, who were the geniuses who came up with this one?

Alright: devil’s advocate time: We get it, time spent humanizing Bill Gates is time spent humanizing Microsoft; we even get the secret ‘anti-switcher’ message for hardcore Seinfeld fans who remember the Mac in his apartment. Heck: we get that Bill/Microsoft¹ is a mensch and shops at regular stores for regular people, not some overpriced, all white and chrome, well-designed… you get where we’re going with this.

So, like the Apple ads, we get some cute humor with a heart of gold — it’s as though Microsoft went ahead and took PC, admitted straight up he’s Bill Gates himself, and then ran with it. Ok, we’re a little sold that this will help people warm up Microsoft. Feeling better about Vista (or, yes, Windows Mobile²) — not so much.

Finally, and we hesitate to even mention this, but was it really necessary to make us not only watch that little derriere-shake at the end, but anticipate and wait for it? Jerry Seinfeld: you imp you.

1. Yes, Gates has retired, but he’s still the soul of the company and not a bad soul at all. Plus, can you imagine this commercial with Steve Ballmer instead of Bill? The horror. The horror.
2. Ha HA! The iPhone-related angle is finally revealed!

Friend-of-a-friend-of-a-former-Apple-employee (no names!) has just fed an awfully convenient (and admittedly unsubstantiated) rumor to the mill: MobileMe was run by Rob Schoeben, VP of Applications Marketing (including Pro Apps, iWork, and iLife) at Apple, who was a former Microsoft executive and who brought in fellow former Microsofties as well. Blogger Chuq Von Rospach intimates that Schoeben’s head may well now decorate, pike-top, Steve Jobs’ figurative wall outside 1 Infinite Loop. In more realistic terms:

Whether he was literally walked to the parking lot iwth a box of his stuff in full view of the cheering crowds of Apple employees, I don’t know – but that’s the image I get of this, based on how it was told to me. And for better or worse, I can see Steve Jobs doing something like that.

Since the term “getting Steved” is, rightly or wrongly, a near legendary tech-industry meme, it’s safe to say so can a lot of other people. But did this all really go down, and in the way suggested? And is the Microsoft connection merely being played up entirely for the benefit of the “smarts”?

Maybe.

Meanwhile, Chuq also gets into the recent 3G chipset issues, which we covered earlier today and will update with his further rumormongering…

If you’re interested in following the Olympics on your iPhone, you could do worse than the free Lenovo Summer Olympics 2008 (App store link) application.

A classy Olympics app is postworthy, sure, but what makes this app very interesting is that it’s been developed by Zumobi — note the tell-tale ‘Z’ in the screenshot, note also that, ah, Zumobi is the developer. Why is this significant? Zumobi is a company that specializes in creating a neat ’tiled content’ app for Windows Mobile. Ok, so?

Zumobi is an independent software shop whose core technology was created at Microsoft and subsequently spun-off. The company is still pretty much backed by Microsoft and there are plans to include there app ‘on deck’ for Windows Mobile someday. So while it’s not technically accurate to say we’re looking at our first Microsoft-developed application for the iPhone, it’s not crazy to point out the connection either. Add in the Lenovo and Intel sponsorship of the app and we have a very interesting 5-way relationship going on here: Apple, Zumobi, Microsoft, Lenovo, and Intel.

…And you thought the Olympics were about sports. For shame.

via tuaw

Microsoft’s most recent 10K filing with the SEC gives every indication you-know-who may be bringing them some future pain:

A competing vertically-integrated model, in which a single firm controls both the software and hardware elements of a product, has been successful with certain consumer products such as personal computers, mobile phones and digital music players

Sure, Microsoft has their Xbox and Zune end-to-end business models, the former of which has enjoyed both success and red-ring framed troubles, and the latter of which is jettisoning even its… er… more eccentric fanbase, but they’ve yet to enjoy iPod-level triumph in the space.

To put this in some perspective, we know Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, has said Apple’s tight integration is something they want to emulate going forward, but Microsoft basically invented software as the mega-business. They’ve made gatestillions of dollars on software and enjoy a monopoly level position in both PC OS and Office applications.

So, even as Apple sold a million iPhone 3Gs in a weekend, and Steve Jobs wants 1% of the global mobile market, and 10 million units shipped short term, Microsoft came close to moving 20 million software licenses for Windows Mobile in the last year, and even as Mac sales keep inching on up, Microsoft still sits so far atop that market share mountain, its basically everest.

Still, if we discount Microsoft’s endemic — and groundless — Apple (and now Google) envy, could Ballmer and co. seriously still see Apple’s 360 degree, spherically integrated business model as a threat? And if so, why?

Posted from my iPhone

Never have I seen a thousand pound gorilla play such defense:

Apple: In the competition between PCs and Macs, we outsell Apple 30-to-1. But there is no doubt that Apple is thriving. Why? Because they are good at providing an experience that is narrow but complete, while our commitment to choice often comes with some compromises to the end-to-end experience. Today, we’re changing the way we work with hardware vendors to ensure that we can provide complete experiences with absolutely no compromises. We’ll do the same with phones—providing choice as we work to create great end-to-end experiences.

Seriously, Microsoft? Seriously? You pretty much invented the software industry and helped commoditize the PC business to an extent that Windows runs on an amount of servers, desktops, laptops, and — yes — even handsets, so vast it blots out the stars, and you’re re-focusing your business model on being more like Apple?

Seriously?

Now, I love Apple. My server, desktop, laptop, and handset were all designed in Cupertino, and their market share may one day approach 10%… but that’s the thing. 10%. (Not counting iPod here because, try as it might, Zune isn’t even really in that business).

You’re the gourmet restaurant on one side of the street or you’re the dozens of McDonalds on the other. Try to build your fine+fast eatery in the middle and… you get rammed by the oncoming bus (or Gordon Ramsey, whichever gets there first).

Instead of obsessing over Apple (and Google), how about spending some time on Microsoft. Your branding is a mess (8 word product names with inconsistent and seemingly random uses of Windows and LIVE! may work for puzzle games, but not consumer interest), your SKU’s are terminally skewed, and you’re increasingly at cross-purposes between partner platforms and in-house “whole widget” approaches. Heck, you’re making Yahoo! seem focused right now.

Head on over to WMExperts for more complete coverage and analysis. And to find out if Dieter somehow works ZOMG! Zune Phone… er… zPhone… er… xPhone… er… Phone for Windows LIVE! into the post…  

Following up our Exchange Activesync for the iPhone 2.0 walkthrough, and some FREE/cheap Hosted Exchange solutions for users without Megacorps, here’s an official “welcome!” from biggest Megacorp of them all, Microsoft. More specifically, from the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog:

If you’ve not heard; Apple released iPhone 2.0 today which includes a software update to the existing iPhones in the market (yes, we mentioned it when it was announced as well). We’re thrilled to add them to the family of Exchange ActiveSync licensees that enable all sorts of devices to connect to Exchange Server. For those of you that manage Exchange Servers this means you may see some new devices connecting and we wanted to give you a few notes about what to expect.

Via

You’ve got your uber-cool new iPhone 3G or you’re rocking the new 2.0 update on your iPhone 2G or iPod Touch, and you want to try out this Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync all the kids suits are yabbering about. One problem — you don’t have an Exchange server. You’re not part of some big megacorp with a massive IT department, you’re not a developer with MSDC licenses for the “testing”, and you’re not even small-business’y enough to pick up a cheap (for Microsoft!) ActionPack with a couple of licenses (or even if you did, you don’t have the geek in you to set ‘em up and administer the high-maintenance little beasties).

What to do, what to do?

Hosted Exchange.

Yup, just like ISP’s offer regular old email, and we services offer Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, etc. for POP and IMAP mail, some companies will provide you with similar email accounts hosted on Exchange, ready for to get your ActiveSync iPhone nirvana on. Ranging in price, some even do it cheaply and some… for FREE!

The inimitable Lifehacker points us towards Mail2Web, which offers a FREE Microsoft Exchange based email solution, and provides handy-dandy setup and usage tips (though it looks like you might need the $4.45 a month version if you want to use it directly with Outlook on the PC).

TiPb’s own cross-platformer-in-chief also points us towards some for-pay, but potentially better fitting solutions from some users, with Sherweb at the top of his list, 1and1 hitting okay, and 4smartphone serving up equal parts popularity and unreliability (lately).

Of course, Microsoft itself is also entering the subscription space, for anyone who might want an ActiveSync addy straight out of Redmond…

Any options we’re missing?

If MobileMe is Apple’s “Exchange for the rest of us”, then ActiveSync is Microsoft’s “Exchange for the most of them”. After Windows and Office, it’s arguably the 3rd pillar of Microsoft’s business domination. Blackberry’s can (and almost de facto do) connect to them, Windows Mobiles certainly connect to them. Even the aging Palm OS Treo’s have ActiveSync support. And with the 2.0 software, the iPhone does as well.

Caveat: Microsoft loves them some monopoly power and proprietary solutions (in this case, for example, using their own MAPI rather than the IMAP IDLE standard for “push” email). They may be becoming increasingly open in the face of Web-based competition, but their crown jewels are still closely guarded. So, while Outlook connects directly to Exchange for — according to them — the “richest experience”, and Windows Mobile probably follows a close second, iPhone like other ActiveSync licensees connects via something called Outlook Web Access, the same way a web browser might.

How does this experience stack up in richness? Read on to find out!

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Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week’s edition: Windows Se7en, Great Googley Android, India’s circling the RIM, the Treo 800w guest commentary, and no other news on Safari for Samsung…

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