In the past year, Apple has sold more than in the previous 28 years combined.
These objectively impressive numbers, in my opinion, demonstrate how much the IT world needed innovation. Apple adopts strategies that I mostly don't agree with (proprietary formats, binding contracts, obsession with patents, even the most controversial ones, etc.). But it cannot be denied that – unlike other producers – it devotes a lot of resources and a lot of time to quality and research.
The qualitative difference between a Mac and a PC, in hardware but above all in software, cannot be dismissed as a joke of the eternal "nerd" computer warfare. It was incredible that an operating system like Windows, so vulnerable, unstable and slow (with the same resources), could last so long. Something was wrong with the laws of the market.
Now it seems that the mechanism has unlocked. And in fact for the majority of users it is no longer so mandatory to use Windows. The Internet has really made it easier to exchange documents. Hard disk and floppy file systems (closed, non-interoperable, strictly proprietary) are now irrelevant. And the beneficial effects can be seen. Even for Windows users. With version 8 Microsoft introduces some concepts that could (and should) have been introduced 20 years ago. And if it finally does now it's probably in response to the above numbers.
It would be great if in a few years we could choose our computer based on how it works, and not on how well it satisfies the commercial and patent blackmails of this or that multinational. It would be a great thing if Public Administrations around the world (a fundamental customer for software houses) imposed open and interoperable formats, banned closed file systems, asked for clear and transparent rules for ecosystems such as iTunes or Google Music.
I'm sure we'll get there, hopefully not in another 20 years.
Adapted from: Page Three.
from "Il Corriere delle Comunicazioni" n.2 of 6/2/2012:
In the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple takes back the world leadership that had been stolen from it in the third quarter by Samsung Electronics. But the Korean company remains number one in 2011 with an annual increase of 128%….”!
Maybe Christmas presents helped Apple's mini-recovery.
Regarding MICROSOFT, I would like to compare it to a solid tractor, which sees agile and multicolored off-road motorcycles whiz by on uneven ground, which in the long run do not hold up.
APPLE and SAMSUNG with all the other Androidians, boldly lead the way, MICROSOFT follows, sometimes even precedes, but continues calmly to hold on to the whole market. Once upon a time, PC software had to be IBM-DOS compatible, but MICROSOFT won out in the end. APPLE has continued to maintain its beautiful garden with ups and downs.
In recent years APPLE, driven by an enlightened and shrewd entrepreneur who has been able to stimulate a need to be there (who is not APPLE with me, antiquated is), has occupied high market shares. Among other things I want to underline a clever market move: together with the basic sw, millions of applications (extensions of the sw) have been offered for free and at a low price: APPLE has baptized them APP, coincidentally with the same initial letters as its name ….almost an identification and a copuright!
Then there was the wave of Symbiam and Blackberry, but they didn't have enough NERD momentum.
Then Android arrived and it seemed like the Land of Toys, all free and millions of applications and great freedom to write more.
WHAT ABOUT MICROSOFT? He was at the window, he studied what was new, he bought NOKIA to have a hardware sideboard and he entered the new smartphone and tablet market with all his strength as an old tractor that never stops.
Do you remember AESOP's fable about the race between the Hare and the Tortoise? Who won in the end?
Dear Attilio,
I see a basic limit to this vision of yours, that is, you disregard the quality of the products, and you believe that users are guided almost exclusively by more or less effective marketing.
It is not so; marketing has its weight, but success or failure in the long run depends above all on word of mouth.