Posts from — December 2007

Readers Write
Commenting on the article “Soviet Microsoft: How Resistance to Free Markets and Open Ideas Will the Unravel the Software Superpower,” reader Harvey Lubin extended the analogy between Microsoft and the Soviet Union by describing how many of Microsoft’s customers have developed a Stockholm Syndrome that prevents them from seeing or readily adopting alternatives.

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Daniel Eran Dilger
In its first full quarter of sales, the iPhone has already climbed past Microsoft’s entire lineup of Windows Mobile smartphones in North America, according to figures compiled by Canalys and published by Symbian. That puts the iPhone ahead of smartphones running Symbian, Linux, and the Palm OS, but behind the first place RIM BlackBerry. The figures mesh with retail sales data already reported by NPD, which similarly described the size of the US market with a 27% chunk bit out by Apple’s iPhone.

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Daniel Eran Dilger
Somewhat ironically, one of the most financially successful capitalist companies of the 90s has positioned itself as a modern counterpart to the old communist Soviet Union. Microsoft’s ideological contempt for and resistance to free markets and the open expression and propagation of fresh ideas and technologies is not only a close parallel of the old USSR, but also a clear reflection of why Microsoft is currently failing and why its troubles have only just begun. Here’s a comprehensive look at why this is the case.

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Daniel Eran Dilger
With Apple holding onto 91% of the market for digital video downloads, one might think that the company’s rapid ascendancy in movie sales would have received more attention by the media. Instead, reporters have suggested reasons why the figures don’t really matter and analysts are offering their advice on how to “fix” Apple’s digital strategy. Most of the suggestions involve Apple stooping to copy the failure of Microsoft’s DRM-centric rental revocations or the Media Center/Tivo DVR money pit between the rock of cable providers and the hard place of consumers looking for cheap hardware.

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Daniel Eran Dilger
This quarter’s NPD report on video downloads flies in the face of claims made by certain analysts claiming to have the answers required to turn around the supposed “failure” of Apple TV. Echoing his earlier claims that iTunes faced a dire future, Forrester Research’s James McQuivey recently took Apple TV to task, fretting that his guesstimate of sales didn’t match his earlier sales prediction. Based on McQuivey’s guesswork, Silicon Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer offered suggestions for “fixing” it.

While it has become fashionable to mimic the complaints of others when talking about Apple TV, the more shocking reality is that the product is actually working as intended to strengthen Apple’s plans for the digital disruption of television. Here’s why.

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Daniel Eran Dilger
Amazon’s new Kindle ebook reader is billed as the iPod for digital reading. Will it inspire a new era of mainstream electronic reading, just service a dedicated niche of hard core readers, or simply fizzle out into failure? We put the new device through its paces to find out.
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Daniel Eran Dilger
Apple is reportedly considering an expansion of its iTunes offerings to include video rentals. How can Apple succeed in a market where so many other online media outlets have failed or are struggling for relevance? By taking an new approach that follows what works in the real world, and respects the existing culture rather than trying to overturn it. Here’s what’s involved in the complex world of digital rentals.

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Daniel Eran Dilger
Forrester Research seems to be working hard to publish the demise of iTunes. Curiously, the better iTunes does, the more Forrester researchers ratchet up the alarmist fear-mongering. Comparing the increasingly shrill reports of doom for iTunes with actual sales data makes for an entertaining look at the nature of sensational reporting masquerading as independent research and analysis.

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Daniel Eran Dilger
Some ideas just won’t die. Proponents of the Mac OS X Leopard Windows API Myth are so convinced that Apple desperately needs to wedge Microsoft Windows into Mac OS X that they’ll run with any hint that might suggest a plausible way for this to happen. The latest take on the subject is that Mac OS X Leopard loads PE files and requests Windows DLL files, which more than a few pundits have determined must be a new development because Tiger didn’t do this. Therefore, they’ve decided that the only sensical conclusion to jump to is that Apple is secretly implementing the Windows API so that Macs will be able to run Windows programs natively. They’re wrong, here’s why.

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Daniel Eran Dilger
The video industry is heavily promoting HDTV as the biggest new thing since color. While it’s uncontroversial that HDTV can deliver an exceptional picture for users of the latest large flat screen displays, sometimes a high pitched marketing message can drown out more interesting realities. In 2008, it appears that low definition video will actually have a bigger impact on consumers; Apple’s strategies in video take that potential into consideration. Here’s why Low Def is big and getting bigger–and why it’s bigger than HD.

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