Comments on: Microsoft plans to use Windows 7 to raise netbook prices

By: Adobe’s Flash monopoly game against Apple — RoughlyDrafted Magazine

Adobe’s Flash monopoly game against Apple — RoughlyDrafted Magazine — Wed, 05 May 2010 18:52:02 +0000

[...] Microsoft plans to use Windows 7 to raise netbook prices The case of the monopoly that wasn’t there Apple doesn’t even have a plurality of market share amongst smartphones, being the third largest platform by unit sales (behind Nokia and RIM). Even if that were to change, and Apple were to become the world’s largest smartphone maker, it would need to ramp up its production massively to gain the kind of market-dominating share that Microsoft and Adobe exercise over PCs and web content (and would have to destroy a number of entrenched competitors while also completely holding back new contenders such as Android and HP-Palm). [...]

By: Why Windows 7 isn’t competing with Mac OS X Snow Leopard — RoughlyDrafted Magazine

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:33:39 +0000

[...] profits Microsoft harvested throughout the 90s from its exclusive monopoly control over PC sales. Microsoft plans to use Windows 7 to raise netbook prices Apple’s Mac Growth Via Comparison to Windows [...]

By: wanorris

wanorris — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:43:02 +0000

Is it anti-competitive, or just old-fashioned competitive? If your company is losing market share due to being priced too high for a segment of the market, offering a lower-cost product aimed especially at that segment is Marketing 101.

Is Microsoft really obligated to say, “Oh, we seem to be losing share. Time to pack it in and give up, I guess.”?

By: FreeRange

FreeRange — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 02:59:41 +0000

The only reason MS came up with the low cost windows “lite” version for the developing markets was once again for anti-competitive reasons – to put a nail in the emerging Linux efforts by projects like the one laptop per child program, and others. They were scared to death that they would lose the future business of an entire emerging geographic regions and a whole generation of future users, IT managers and developers. This was the first really great shot for Linux to finally get a strong foothold and MS killed it. This company needs to be broken up once and for all and its thuggery finally put to an end.

By: wanorris

wanorris — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:00:04 +0000

Microsoft offered XP Home to netbook makers for something like $15 a copy to get entry into the market. Now they’re looking to raise it back to its more traditional price of $50 or so. Most netbooks sell in the $300-500 range, so I doubt that adding $35-50 to the retail price is going to prove crippling to the whole market, especially since new models keep rapidly adding features (and often pricepoint) anyway. It’s hard to imagine people saying, “well I was going to buy a $300 netbook, but now that they’ve raised the price $40, I might as well spend the $999 and spring for a MacBook.”

John E — “what consumers really want to go with a small convenient screen is a simplified easy OS.” Actually, if you follow how the market’s been moving, what most people seem to want is a small, light computer, often with great battery life, that still runs all their old applications. That’s why the netbook market shifted enormously to XP systems from Linux as soon as the choice was available — consumers were confused that all the same things didn’t work.

I imagine this move will open up an opportunity for the ARM-based “smartbooks” currently in development in Taiwan, especially if they can hit the $199 and $249 pricepoints, but it still remains to be seen if the mass market will accept systems that look like computers (as opposed to phones or whatever) but won’t run common PC apps like Office that people are used to.

By: Neil Burlock

Neil Burlock — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 10:20:43 +0000

I read the FAM transcript and it’s full of stuff like this. Admittedly the presentation was intended to soothe the nerves of jittery financial advisors, but if we assume that Ballmer believes even some of what he said, then he’s living in a fantasy world where the customer wants what’s best for Microsoft.

By: John E

John E — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:45:41 +0000

yes, Ballmer’s fixation with Apple is obvious. and strategically stupid. MS just needs to copy/knock off the Mac OS – as Win 7 blatantly does – but should never even mention Apple.

there is only one way prices for Windows and Office can go long term – downward. as commodity products with more and more competition every year, that is inevitable and there is nothing Ballmer can do about it.

the Win CE/Mobile guy was a bit more realistic about its current problems, but of course could not admit it is certain now to become a permanent also-ran, marginalized by Nokia/Symbian on one side and Google/Android on the other in the licensed smartphone OS market, while the integrated hardware/software alternatives of iPhone and RIM capture the top end of the market.

and netbooks … what consumers really want to go with a small convenient screen is a simplified easy OS. which Win 7 is definitely not. not even “home basic.” hello Chrome … maybe the right idea at the right time next year. but while Apple of course attacks first with the iTablet from the other smartphone direction in just a few months …

why haven’t they fired that fool?

By: Per

Per — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:49:37 +0000

I hear that Kim Jong Il is a very intelligent man but that doesn’t mean that what he does makes any sense. Ballmer fits into the same category.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 02:31:54 +0000

Open source FT… L.

But iWork is pretty sweet.

By: westech

westech — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:34:55 +0000

What Ballman doesn’t appreciate is that the iPhone is a computer in this market segment, and it looks like Apple will sell 25,000,000 of them this year, plus maybe 15,000,000 iTouches. The iTablet will be a larger form factor of these. It will sell in the $600 to $800 price range. Microsoft has already lost the market share war for this product segment.