The Sky Is NOT Falling, No Matter What Ballmer Says
Friday, March 20, 2009 at 12:43PM 
photo from virtualization.comSteve Ballmer. It must be lonely at Microsoft these days, what with just the red ring of Death xBoxes and stacks of Zunes to keep you company. So you'll give the man a little benefit of the doubt. Well, we could give him the benefit of the doubt, but he's proven himself capable of saying ridiculous things for years now.
This time around, Ballmer brings us this chestnut: "Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment -- same piece of hardware -- paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be."
So let's break this down. First, we here at TDL are acutely aware of the "Apple tax" as it's known. It manifests itself in a lot of ways, like RAM that costs two or three times what it does from other vendors, or hard drive upgrades with the same ridiculous markup. And yes, there are pricey machines like the new Mac Pro that won't make a lick of difference for the work that 90% of us do on computers. But guess what? That other 10% appreciates and needs the power that upgrade brings.
And yes, there are holes in the product lineup. Yes, there should be a product to compete with the netbooks. Let's not forget what happened with the iPod and iPhone though: neither was the first product in its category. Apple has a habit of letting the dust settle, then blowing the doors off whatever is left. If Netbooks continue to be laptop replacements, you can bet Apple will be there. No, maybe not as fast as we'd like, but we'll probably love what they do.
Also bear in mind, this is the same Ballmer who said no one would buy the iPhone. How's that working out?
There are pricing problems at Apple, but guess what? They can all be resolved with a few slashes in price, and a few models to fill the gaps. Apple's problems are fixable. I don't think the same can be said of Ballmer and Microsoft.
Reader Comments (9)
I don't understand why Ballmer is fixated on Apple given the fact they only hold a 10% market share. I understand when he takes shot at the iPod or iPhone due to their market/mindshare, but why even bother mentioning Apple computers?
It just seems in general, they spend far more time throwing stones than Apple or Google, who just kind of quietly do what they're doing.
One need not pay Apple's admittedly high prices for RAM. Third-party RAM is widely available. Ditto the high-priced hard drives. You can buy a hard drive for your Mac from any number of third-party vendors at competitive prices and install it yourself.
True. I think often people switching to the Mac, standing in the shiny store kind of get that glazed over look and just ask for more RAM, etc without shopping around first. There are definitely ways to save big on RAM and drives.
Ballmer would be absolutely correct if everything else was equal but of course that is not the case. When you buy a Mac you get OSX, an operating system that in my view is the antithesis of the Windows legacy. I would pay $500 more for a Mac if all it had was the operating system to differentiate it from a PC: the buyer gets a full-blown Posix-compliant Unix box along with OSX. And, if you need to or want to, you can run Windows natively on the box via Boot Camp or in a window within OSX via a virtual machine (for example, VMWare's Fusion). But Apple also provides quite the sweet suite of software with a new Mac, making the out-of-box experience worth every penny. I have a new-ish iMac 3.06 Ghz with 4 GB of RAM and what comes to mind is the old saying that "quality is remembered long after price is forgotten."
Ballmer goes after Apple because Apple is an easier target than the Linux community and the only serious threat to the M$ 'monopoly' of mediocrity. Going from a mere 3% market share at the turn of the century to a soaring 10% in less than a decade is food for serious thought at Redmond. With the abject failure of Vista (which I frankly suspect is Windows 7 shipped prematurely to maintain revenues) and the 'new' Windows 7 looking remarkably OS Xish how can Ballmer do anything but try to tackle the only serious competition he has. The monopoly has been busted and M$ hasn't a clue how to actually compete in a fair marketplace. If Jobs were to begin selling OS X to run on Dells, HPs, Sony's and Lenovos M$ would lose about half its market share in the first year. The Emperor's lack of clothing is becoming apparent.
"same piece of hardware -- paying $500 more to get a logo on it"
If indeed it was ONLY just a logo I might understand Balmer's reasoning, but since it's more than merely hardware it's just another 'smoke and mirrors' statement from a monopoly.
Ballmer is a certified idiot. That fool would do himself a huge favor by just going away. MS is through. They grew to the size they are now in a time when there was no competition, no laws, and a world of ignorant people that lusted after the word 'internet' with absolutely no idea about how or where to get there properly. They just opted for the cheapest junk they could find because their friends/neighbors all did the same. And what's is 100% synonymous with cheap junk? What else? Microsoft. They're so dumb at that company they can't even copy properly. MS is an embarrassment to the tech world and even more so to us, the American people. Companies like Apple eat Microsoft ANY DAY of the year. So Mr. Ballmer, just STFU already and go play with Vista or something made just for you.
Apple has an advanced operating system that non-tech folks are beginning to realize is worth paying for.