» What’s Your Favorite Fruit?
I was a late addition to the most recent episode of Unprofessional, where Dave, Lex and I discussed food and some other crap, I guess. What, I’m supposed to remember everything?
» Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results
Pretty good quarter. iPhone sales are up and even iPad sales were up a little, despite not having a new product launch and last year’s quarter being the one after a product launch. Mac sales are down but not as fast as the rest of the market, increasing Apple’s share.
On the conference call right now, Peter Oppenheimer noted that Apple would be deferring more revenue in the future on iOS and Mac devices to reflect the change to not charging for operating systems and iWork (a $900 million impact for the 4th calendar quarter). Hence, their guidance is flat for that quarter.
Rudderless Microsoft
I’m a little surprised at the relative lack of concern over the fact that Microsoft is effectively leaderless right now. Part of this is because so many thought it was time for Ballmer to go. But think of the amount of virtual ink that has been spilled pondering the oh-so-concerning “news” that Tim Cook (are you sitting down?) is not, in fact, Steve Jobs.
Meanwhile, Microsoft doesn’t even have a CEO.
Yes, Ballmer is still ostensibly in charge, but he can’t make any decisions right now. Anything he does hangs under the threat that a new CEO will think differently. Yet, I continue to see pieces claiming that Microsoft has some secret winning strategy or inherent strength that will take it back to the top again. “Microsoft is huge in the enterprise” isn’t a strategy. It’s a moat. If Steve Jobs were alive and taking over Microsoft soon, their enterprise strength would be the thing he’d milk to gain time to figure out what the next great thing is going to be.
On a recent episode of The Talk Show, John Gruber and Marco Arment talked about Microsoft and how it’s not “cool” like Apple is. It’s a douchey topic to cover (which is upsetting because John usually has me on to cover the douchey topics), but it’s true with one exception I can think of: the Xbox. The Xbox is perceived as cool and it’s a failing of Microsoft’s culture that it continues to try to lead with Windows in the consumer markets. Very few people ever bought Windows because they thought it was cool. They bought it because it was compatible with what they had at work and because it’s what ran on the cheaper systems.
It is very hard for an outside CEO to take over an organization like Microsoft. Even if you’re good, internal forces are constantly trying to sabotage you. So I’m torn between thinking Microsoft should find an internal candidate or one from outside. An outside candidate might shake them of this “everything is about Windows” mindset, but an internal candidate might work from a great position of support. By all accounts they seem set on an outsider.
I think it’s interesting no one is suggesting the flip side to what everyone incorrectly said Apple must do in the 1990s. That is, what if Microsoft bought one of the floundering PC OEMs — Dell or HP — and ended licensing of Windows? I don’t think that’s necessarily good advice — I doubt it’s even possible because of contracts. I just note that I’m surprised I haven’t heard it because tech pundits love to talk about “bold moves”. The opposite wasn’t good advice to Apple and we heard it as late as 2006.
Increasing component costs and pressure to cut its prices mean Apple’s best bet for long-term success is to quit the hardware business and license the Mac to Dell, analyst firm Gartner claimed on Tuesday.
That was incredibly dumb advice at the time and it gets dumber as the years go on, threatening to form a singularity of dumbness that will travel backwards and forwards in time, consuming all in its path. How come Microsoft doesn’t get the same level of dumb attention?
I don’t think Microsoft is going anywhere. I mean that in two ways: 1) I mean they’re not going away and 2) right now they’re not going where the puck is going. They’re sailing somewhat aimlessly through increasingly margin-less waters. And the degree to which Microsoft’s investors, boosters and followers are OK with that is rather baffling.
» ‘Slaves of the Internet, Unite!’
Tim Kreider writing for the New York Times on being asked to write for free:
My parents blew tens of thousands of 1980s dollars on tuition at a prestigious institution to train me for this job. They also put my sister the pulmonologist through medical school, and as far as I know nobody ever asks her to perform a quick lobectomy — doesn’t have to be anything fancy, maybe just in her spare time, whatever she can do would be great — because it’ll help get her name out there.
I wrote a piece for TidBITS years ago for free because it was fun and quick to write, outside their normal serious technical coverage and, holy crap, I was writing for the guy who wrote the book that I used to get on the Internet the first time. I don’t regret that at all. But now I write for money and I’ve turned down writing pieces that I thought didn’t pay enough based on the amount of work it would have been and fact that the site was a well-known, for-profit venture.
A lot of this is a judgement call. Value your work. I’d write for free again for a friend, for fun or for a good cause, but this is my job now. If you’re making money off of it and expect me not to, fuck you, pay me.
» Understanding tablet sales
Ben Bajarin:
The challenge with data is that the truth lies in the interpretation. Without context genuine data can lead to disingenuous conclusions.
Lots of interesting context in Bajarin’s piece, most notably that the greatest part of tablets taking share from the iPad are cheap devices made by a myriad of no-name manufacturers. And then there’s this:
Our research, and many others, suggests that over half of first-time purchasers of low-cost tablets had buyers remorse and intend to spend up on their next one.
Tell me again how Apple’s pricing is unsustainable. Apple’s not going to go over 50 percent again, but there’s no reason it needs to worry about that.
» Mavericks and battery life
Kif Leswing, writing for Wired:
If there’s one major point of emphasis for Apple’s new desktop operating system, it’s battery life.
It’s kind of amazing how just adding the percentage of power being used as a column in Activity Monitor reminds you that that thing you’re using? Yeah, it uses power.
Apple’s had a long-running beef with Adobe’s Flash, but the reason isn’t corporate politics. It’s because Flash kills batteries dead.
Remember that fuss about Flash? Glad that’s over.
» Tweetbot 3 for iOS 7
Terrific animations in this update to my go-to Twitter client. Shawn Blanc has a quick look at it.
And if you complain about a $2.99 price tag then you don’t deserve nice things.
» LinkedIn Intro
Uh, sure, I’ll just let LinkedIn install a profile on my iPhone. Because I… love LinkedIn so much.
Whaaaaaaat?
(Via Lessien.)
» Social media!
My survey says 1 out of 1 white males sitting in this chair I’m sitting in think social media surveys are the dumbest way to gauge reaction to product announcements, slightly edging out “panel of baboons”.
» Not exactly missing it
CNet’s Scott Stein likes the Surface’s keyboard cover and thinks Tuesday’s iPad announcements were a “missed opportunity”:
Apple used to have its own keyboard accessory when the iPad first debuted: it was a physical keyboard dock. So, obviously, Apple’s not opposed to keyboards and iPads. I don’t even necessarily need a trackpad on my keyboard. But I do want a smarter keyboard accessory that elevates the iPad to a new level. That’s what I hoped Apple would do for the iPad Air. It didn’t happen. But, hopefully, in the future, it will.
The problem with iPad keyboard covers is that even the full-size iPad isn’t wide enough to accommodate a full-sized keyboard. Microsoft gave the Surface a different aspect ratio, so it’s more than an inch wider than the iPad in landscape. That gave them the room to make a full-sized keyboard. Apple doesn’t have that luxury and they’re not the kind of company that’s going to make a crappy half-solution. Maybe they can solve that problem somehow, but I doubt they’d do it by cramming the same set of keys into a smaller space.