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"Major" Microsoft Announcement Monday


Parsad

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Hopefully, Balmer doesn't come running on stage jumping up and down, yelling "Whooo!" over and over!  Or better yet, maybe he'll come out on stage like Tim Cook and channel Steve Jobs.  Did you guys see him during his presentation?  You'd swear it was Job's older brother.  Cheers!

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haha, probably them topticking the social media scene by buying Yammer.

 

you are correct sir

 

I can just imagine a fictitious war room at Yammer:

#1 "Crap! The IPO window is shut!"

#2 "Are there any private bids out there?"

#1 "All we can find is Microsoft"

#2 "What's their bid?"

#1 "$1B"

#2 "WHAT?? SOLD!!"

 

That being said I'm just poking fun and I'm sure those involved on both sides are far smarter than I.

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This could be the big news.

 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57453729-92/microsoft-to-take-on-apple-with-own-windows-8-tablet/

 

If true, this would indeed a major announcement.

 

Let's just hope it's attractive, and not a plasticky, clunky box like Google's cell phone was when it tried to take on the iPhone.  If you build it, build it right...that's what Jobs was great at...don't put out a product unless it is finished!  Cheers!

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Let's just hope it's attractive, and not a plasticky, clunky box like Google's cell phone was when it tried to take on the iPhone.  If you build it, build it right...that's what Jobs was great at...don't put out a product unless it is finished!  Cheers!

 

And how would that appeal to MSFT's demographic?  MSFT has always gone for the masses while Apple has always gone for the discerning customer.  Gates talked about it numerous times.  I doubt it will be as polished as Apple's tablet, and I don't think it will need to be as long as the price point is right.  The question is whether it will deliver the value to MSFT's constituency not whether they will out Apple Apple.

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Here's the thing; if they're gong to start designing hardware, they have to stick to it for the long term, and cut out licensing the OS to other tablet manufacturers. It doesn't make sense to build hardware and license to other manufacturers at the same time. Google already found that out. They can produce a device that sells well for a couple months, until another hardware company releases something better.

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From Gizmodo:

 

It's a tablet that's a great PC, and a PC that's a great tablet, says Sifosky. It's 9.3 mm, with a USB 2 port, 22 degree beveled edges, and has a full magnesium case. It weighs less than 1.5 pounds. PVD finish case. 10.6 -inch display. Dual 2x2 antennas that Sinofsky claims give the best WiFi reception of any tablet today, and it has a stand built into the device.

 

Oh... and we had out first demo bug, just as Sinofsky was telling us how movies and entertainment do so well on the Surface, it crapped out.

 

It also has a cover, that clicks into place. Sinofsky is very impressed with this. The cover is less than 3 mm. And it folds out to reveal a full multitouch keyboard that features a trackpad and Metro keys. It has a built in camera, that aims up at 22 degrees when the stand is down to get "everyone" in the frame, says Sinofsky. It also has dual array mics and speakers.

 

All the hardware in the world won't matter without a good OS and a nice app ecosystem, though. We'll have to wait and see how that turns out.

 

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/06/microsoft-surface-2012.jpg

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One more thing to consider (via Bloomberg):

 

The world’s largest software maker is stepping up its assault on the tablet market as consumers choose the devices over laptops, weakening the personal-computer market and curbing Windows revenue. The new strategy threatens to sour Microsoft’s relationship with some PC makers, many of which have been investing to develop their own Windows 8 tablets and may not want to compete directly with Microsoft.
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One more thing to consider (via Bloomberg):

 

many of which have been investing to develop their own Windows 8 tablets and may not want to compete directly with Microsoft.

 

How does this part make sense? They are competing against Apple and Google aren't they?

So are they just going to close shop and call it a day?

Any tablet manufacturer out there running Android (pretty much everybody except Apple) is competing against the Motorola Xoom which is a Google brand as far as I'm concerned.

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How does this part make sense? They are competing against Apple and Google aren't they?

So are they just going to close shop and call it a day?

Any tablet manufacturer out there running Android (pretty much everybody except Apple) is competing against the Motorola Xoom which is a Google brand as far as I'm concerned.

 

It's not binary. It's not "everything's perfect" or "close shop". If Apple licensed iOS to other hardware makers but still made and sold its own hardware, there would be suspicion that they could favor their own devices and eventually use their control of the platform to not play fair with their third party hardware makers.

 

Apple doesn't do that, but I've heard about that worry with Google, and now the same is true with Microsoft. The difference is, Android is open source and can be forked, while Windows 8 is closed sourced and entirely proprietary, so it'll probably be a bigger deal.

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Made me wonder if they will be looking to purchase Nokia to get a manufacturing platform in the Smartphone segment (RIM could also be had cheaply). HPQ also is cheap. With a few purchases MSFT certainly could change the way the game is played in a hurry.

 

My guess is they see Apple's hardware/closed system getting bigger and bigger and close to the point of actually challenging their monopoly in desktop operating systems. Once that genie is out of the bottle then MSFT suffer. The game is changing and MSFT just might get it...   

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Made me wonder if they will be looking to purchase Nokia to get a manufacturing platform in the Smartphone segment (RIM could also be had cheaply). HPQ also is cheap. With a few purchases MSFT certainly could change the way the game is played in a hurry.

 

They sure could get even bigger as a company by going into more hardware, but would it be a good financial decision? How would it impact their margins and their risk/benefit profile? Wouldn't it be better to buy back stock? Or do they have no choice because tablets and smartphones are eating the PC market.. in which case, is their moat being seriously breached?

 

I don't know, but I do know that it's much harder to maintain high margins in hardware than software, and that it's much easier to make shirt-losing mistakes in tangible manufacturing than in writing software if only because everything takes longer and you have to invest more capital to get things going.

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Made me wonder if they will be looking to purchase Nokia to get a manufacturing platform in the Smartphone segment (RIM could also be had cheaply). HPQ also is cheap. With a few purchases MSFT certainly could change the way the game is played in a hurry. 

 

A NOK purchase would be a stroke of genius with NOK at these levels.  I still believe NOK makes the best cell phone hardware in the world (including Apple.)

 

MSFT is at a major inflection point, strategically speaking.  They either (a) have the belief that regardless of Apple's success, it will always have low single digits of the PC market or (b) they consider Apple a very serious threat to the PC market.  If it is (a), then just stop these money losing attempts to half-ass compete entirely and save the shareholder money.  If it is (b), then MSFT has to make serious moves.  Putting out a random tablet or licensing the phone software to outsiders will never work with Google willing to do so for free.

 

They need a NOK (not a RIM) to go head-to-head with Apple.  They don't the talent in-house to compete on phones and tablets with Apple.

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I think MSFT understands that smartphones, tablets, notebooks, desktops and soon, TV, cars, at home or at work etc are all converging. Apple soon will have the ability to have all platforms work seemlessly together via 'the cloud'. As Apple grows their ability to tie everything together becomes even more powerful.

 

I am not a teckie and definitely not an early adopter. I am a happy Microsoft consumer (have been for years). I am now wondering if I should begin migrating to Apple products - phone then perhaps tablet. The reason being is even I can see how all the Apple devices can work together; and this is only going to get better in the future.

 

Go big or go home.     

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