Infinite Style

HP just had a very Apple like presentation where they displayed their new line of Pre phones, along with the new TouchPad tablet. What I find most interesting about this transition at HP, aside from the fact that they are moving into a more Apple style way of controlling hardware and software, is how this is going to affect Microsoft in the long run and the epic Apple-Microsoft battle. 

I’ve always felt that the success of Microsoft was based mostly on the dynamics of their time. A variety of factors contributed to their rise. Business was starting to become a global affair. Computers were new and scary things where users were terrified of not having “compatible” software. These type of things made Microsoft the dominant industry giant. 

When looking at the Apple-Microsoft war, I’ve always found it to be such a ridiculous viewpoint. Apple has never been competing with Microsoft, Apple has always been in competition with other PC makers. Companies like Hewlett Packard and Dell are Apple’s primary rival in the PC market and always have been. Apple makes and sells hardware, the fact that it runs their own operating system is just one minor detail. You could make a car analogy and you would have 3 auto makers with one of them making their own tires and the other two buying tires from the leading tire maker. The idea of Microsoft and Apple being in competition with one another probably steams from the fact that most PCs have nothing to differentiate them from one another and it’s main character trait becomes it’s operating system. 

This dynamic worked very well for Microsoft in the 90’s but afterwards things began to change. Computers were no longer these strange weird machines, and most people buying computers had become accustomed to them. The internet also changed the dynamics, and the entire “compatibility” fear started to desolve. At this point the dynamic started to shift in Apple’s favor. The PC’s lack of a standout trait aside from it’s operating system became a problem.

Tired of the bloatware, the viruses, the operating system that doesn’t run well? 

Buy a Mac. 

This is how the last 10 years have played out, and while Apple has never reached or never will reach Microsofts market share they have surpassed all their real competitors in both sales and revenue time and time again.

Getting back to HP and their recent announcements, I think it’s a very interesting point for the tech/computer industry. A sign that the Apple model, their company philosophy, is starting to spread. HP is now releasing phones and tablets where they designed both the hardware and the software, rather than licensing an operating system from Microsoft or Google.

Will they succeed? 

Only time will tell, but I’ve always been a fan of idea of companies controlling the entire system. I think quality is in the details, and the only way to achieve that is through control. I hope for the computer industry that HP does really well. 

What’s that leave Microsoft with? A little over due on canning their CEO if you ask me.