Share This Article

Facebook LinkedIn
Twitter Reddit
Print Email
Pinterest Gmail
Yahoo
Money Morning
×
  • Invest
    • Best Stocks to Buy
    • Stock Forecasts
    • Stocks to Sell Now
    • Stock Market Predictions
    • Technology Stocks
    • Best REITs to Buy Now
    • IPO Stocks
    • Penny Stocks
    • Dividend Stocks
    • Cryptocurrencies
    • Cannabis Investing
    • Angel Investing
  • Trade
    • How to Trade Options
    • Best Trades to Make Now
    • Options Trading Strategies
    • Weekly Trade Recommendations
  • Retire
    • Income Investing Guide
    • Retirement Articles
  • More
    • Money Morning LIVE
    • Special Investing Reports
    • Our ELetters
    • Our Premium Services
    • Videos
    • Meet Our Experts
    • Profit Academy
Login My Member Benefits Archives Research Your Team About Us FAQ
  • Invest
    • Best Stocks to Buy
    • Stock Forecasts
    • Stocks to Sell Now
    • Stock Market Predictions
    • Technology Stocks
    • Best REITs to Buy Now
    • IPO Stocks
    • Penny Stocks
    • Dividend Stocks
    • Cryptocurrencies
    • Cannabis Investing
    • Angel Investing
    ×
  • Trade
    • How to Trade Options
    • Best Trades to Make Now
    • Options Trading Strategies
    • Weekly Trade Recommendations
    ×
  • Retire
    • Income Investing Guide
    • Retirement Articles
    ×
  • More
    • Money Morning LIVE
    • Special Investing Reports
    • Our ELetters
    • Our Premium Services
    • Videos
    • Meet Our Experts
    • Profit Academy
    ×
  • Subscribe
Enter stock ticker or keyword
×
5 Ways to Beat the Fed (and Crush Inflation)

Email this Article

Send with mail | ahoo instead.
Required Needs to be a valid email
Required Needs to be a valid email
Windows 8: Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Strikes Back at Apple and Google
http://mney.co/1QbQ3Xm
Required Please enter the correct value.
Twitter

Windows 8: Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Strikes Back at Apple and Google

By David Zeiler, Associate Editor, Money Morning • @DavidGZeiler • March 6, 2012

Start the conversation

Comment on This Story Click here to cancel reply.

Or to contact Money Morning Customer Service, click here.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Some HTML is OK

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) has radically retooled its flagship product, Windows 8, to fight for a bigger piece of a mobile computing market currently dominated by its rivals.

Microsoft unveiled a beta version of Windows 8 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week.

With a final release expected in the fall, Microsoft needs Windows 8 to be a winner.

Microsoft's Windows, which has owned desktop computing with a market share well over 90%, has not fared as well on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

Instead, Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) have dominated the "post-PC era" with such products as the iPad and the Android operating system.

The Redmond, WA, tech giant now hopes that Windows 8, optimized for the touchscreens of mobile computing but sharing a unified look and feel between its tablet and desktop versions, will reverse its fortunes in mobile computing.

"Microsoft's future path is riding on Windows 8 and its success," Gartner Inc. (NYSE: IT) analyst David Cearley told the Associated Press. "This is a chance for Microsoft to re-establish itself in a market where it's becoming increasingly irrelevant."

Microsoft is at a critical juncture.

The Windows and Office franchises that the company was built on rely on continued growth in the PC market which has slowed in recent years.

This stagnation in the PC market has hurt Windows sales. Revenue from the Windows division was down 6% in the December quarter - the fourth time in the past five quarters that revenue from Windows has declined year-over-year.

Meanwhile, Apple has become the most valuable company in the world on the strength of its iPhone and iPad businesses.

Unless Windows 8 can establish a strong presence in mobile computing, Microsoft risks getting left on the sidelines of tech - still moderately successful, but with little chance for growth and waning influence.

Praise for Windows 8

Critics have praised Microsoft not just for its willingness to make major changes in adapting Windows to touchscreen computing, but for doing it well.

"It's a huge radical rethinking of Windows - and one that's beautiful, logical and simple," writes New York Times technology maven David Pogue. "In essence, it brings the attractive, useful concept of Start-screen tiles, currently available on Windows Phone 7 phones, to laptops, desktop PCs and tablets."

Microsoft also wisely adopted an interface paradigm - tiles - distinct from the app-oriented interface found on Apple's iOS devices and Google's Android. With Windows 8 arriving late to the mobile party, Microsoft needs to offer a different experience to boost its chances of getting consumer attention.

Microsoft also sets Windows 8 apart by making all versions look and behave the same on all devices, be they desktop computers, tablets, or phones. Apple's mobile iOS, for example, differs significantly from its Macintosh operating system, the idea being that each OS is tailored to the hardware it runs on.

Microsoft believes users want more continuity as they switch between devices.

"There are too many hard stops between tablets and devices and smartphones," Steve Sinofsky, president of the Windows division, said at the Windows 8 debut in Barcelona. "This makes them much more harmonious and seamless."

In one more significant move, Microsoft plans to release a version of Windows 8 that will run on chips made by ARM Holdings plc (Nasdaq ADR: ARMH), which power most non-Apple mobile devices, instead of just Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) chips.

That gives hardware makers more options, which should translate to more Windows 8 devices in the marketplace.

Making Up Lost Time at Microsoft (MSFT)

Of course, just because Windows 8 appears well thought-out doesn't mean it will get Microsoft back in the mobile computing game. The measure of success will be whether it can win customers away from the well-established market leaders, Apple and Google.

Microsoft faced a similar problem with its MP3 player, the Zune.

Although a worthy competitor to Apple's iPod, the Zune arrived several years late and never threatened the iPod's dominance.

In mobile computing, Microsoft faces not one but two powerful competitors in Apple and Google, as well as their respective ecosystems of apps and cloud services.

Microsoft's traditional Windows ecosystem is vast, but on the mobile side it lags behind that of its rivals. For example, the Windows Phone Marketplace recently passed the 70,000-app milestone, compared to 450,000 Android apps and 550,000 Apple iOS apps.

However, Microsoft does have a long history of working with numerous hardware partners in its favor. Microsoft's deal last year with Nokia Corp. (NYSE ADR: NOK) will ensure Windows 8 will get a good push in the smartphone market.

And veteran PC partners such as Hewlett-Packard Co. (Nasdaq: HPQ) hope to have Windows 8 tablets ready for this year's holiday shopping season.

Assuming Microsoft backs the whole thing with its usual massive ad campaign, it will have done everything it can to make Windows matter in the mobile computing universe.

At that point, fingers will be crossed in Redmond.

"Microsoft is late to the game and this is a different game than they have been playing," Gartner's Cearley told the Associated Press. "But if they hit a home run with Windows 8, it could still turn some things around."

Related Articles and News:

  • Money Morning:
    Five Stocks to Avoid Like the Plague
  • Money Morning:
    Microsoft, Intel and Cisco Follow Path Predicted in 'Leaders to Laggards' Series
  • Money Morning:
    Star Hedge Fund Manager Einhorn to Microsoft CEO Ballmer: Time to Go
  • Money Morning:
    After a Decade of Miscues, Can Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) Hook Up With the Mobile Revolution?
  • The New York Times:
    Microsoft Unveils Its Next Operating System, Windows 8
  • GigaOm:
    Why Windows 8 is Microsoft's most vital launch inyears
  • Yahoo! Finance:
    Windows 8 Reactions Across the Web

Join the conversation. Click here to jump to comments…

David ZeilerDavid Zeiler

About the Author

Browse David's articles | View David's research services

David Zeiler, Associate Editor for Money Morning at Money Map Press, has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including 18 spent at The Baltimore Sun. He has worked as a writer, editor, and page designer at different times in his career. He's interviewed a number of well-known personalities - ranging from punk rock icon Joey Ramone to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Over the course of his journalistic career, Dave has covered many diverse subjects. Since arriving at Money Morning in 2011, he has focused primarily on technology. He's an expert on both Apple and cryptocurrencies. He started writing about Apple for The Sun in the mid-1990s, and had an Apple blog on The Sun's web site from 2007-2009. Dave's been writing about Bitcoin since 2011 - long before most people had even heard of it. He even mined it for a short time.

Dave has a BA in English and Mass Communications from Loyola University Maryland.

… Read full bio

Login
guest
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
LIVE
Visit Money Morning Live


Latest News

January 19, 2023 • By Money Morning Stock Research Team

These Stocks Could Go To $0

January 9, 2023 • By Money Morning Stock Research Team

The Government Is Pouring $391 Billion Into These Stocks - Buy Now

December 27, 2022 • By Money Morning Staff Reports

6 IPOs in 2023 You Can’t Afford to Miss
Trending Stories
ABOUT MONEY MORNING

Money Morning gives you access to a team of market experts with more than 250 years of combined investing experience – for free. Our experts – who have appeared on FOXBusiness, CNBC, NPR, and BloombergTV – deliver daily investing tips and stock picks, provide analysis with actions to take, and answer your biggest market questions. Our goal is to help our millions of e-newsletter subscribers and Moneymorning.com visitors become smarter, more confident investors.

QUICK LINKS
About Us COVID-19 Announcements How Money Morning Works FAQs Contact Us Search Article Archive Forgot Username/Password Archives Profit Academy Research Your Team Videos Text Messaging Terms of Use
FREE NEWSLETTERS
Total Wealth Research Power Profit Trades Profit Takeover This Is VWAP Penny Hawk Trading Today Midday Momentum Pump Up the Close
PREMIUM SERVICES
Money Map Press Home Money Map Report Fast Fortune Club Weekly Cash Clock Night Trader Microcurrency Trader Hyperdrive Portfolio Rocket Wealth Initiative Extreme Profit Hunters Profit Revolution Warlock's World Penny Nation Quantum Data Profits Live Trading Alliance Trade The Close Inside Money Trader Expiration Trader Vega Burst Trader Flashpoint Trader Darknet Hyper Momentum Trader

© 2023 Money Morning All Rights Reserved. Protected by copyright of the United States and international treaties. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including the world wide web), of content from this webpage, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Money Morning.

Address: 1125 N Charles St. | Baltimore, MD, 21201 | USA | Phone: 888.384.8339 | Disclaimer | Sitemap | Privacy Policy | Whitelist Us | Do Not Sell My Info

wpDiscuz