Posted on 10/12/2010 6:00:38 PM PDT by dayglored
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer insinuated this week that his company's ailing brand holds value for users, unlike Apple's, while at the same time conceding that he's seeing a lot more of his adversary's iPads deployed in the real world than he'd like to....
"I think you clearly have a lot more variety than Apple has. There's really only one choice in the Apple world," he said. " I think the problem, if you don't have a minimum kind of standard […] the brand means nothing to the user. Our brand means something to the user...
[Regarding Macs and iPads:] "You certainly see more," said Ballmer. "You certainly see more than I would like. One is more than I would like."
(Excerpt) Read more at appleinsider.com ...
Apple's "brand means nothing to the user."Wow, Steve.Microsoft's "brand means something to the user."
Personally I think it's perfectly obvious that both brands carry considerable weight with users. SteveB must have run into a bad batch of crack in Redmond. Or maybe SteveJ dropped some acid in the water supply... hard to know.
Anyway, this promises a real FR food-fight if we're not careful, so here's the plea:
Remember there is a tech-thread cease-fire in effect, called by Jim Robinson. It applies to all of us who post on the tech threads. That means YOU.Thanks!Please do not throw insults at people and groups, just because of what type of computer or phone they like. There's room for all (despite Ballmer's comment that "one (Apple product) is more than I would like").
Even as we argue the pros and cons, please show how civil you can be, not how rancorous and ugly. That goes for all interested parties.
lol .....
What the brand ‘means’ to the users is where it matters.
Once again I regret the lack of a Windows Ping List. Won't somebody stand up and get one going?
As the owner of several WinXP boxes and a bunch of Macs, I certainly agree MSFT "means something" to me.
"I think you clearly have a lot more variety than Apple has.
...
With Ballmer recently claiming during an analyst meeting that forging an iPad rival is priority No. 1
So, Apple has one, and Microsoft has none, but none is more than one.
Yep.
The legendary relative lack of choices in the Apple product line (compared to the plethora of PCs and options) is part of the brand identification, I think. You look at just about -any- Apple product and you know immediately that it's an Apple product.
And there are tons of Apple brand loyalists out there to demonstrate that Apple's limited choices nevertheless appeal to a heck of a lot of people (albeit still generally at a niche level).
Microsoft's brand is strong, but more diffuse, I think. It's hard to conjure up a mental image of something that represents "The Microsoft Brand", in the same way that the iPod or iMac or iPhone represent "The Apple Brand".
Which is a shame -- Microsoft certainly has the products and technical know-how. I have to assume their marketing people are asleep.
***
I luv 'em both.
I knew that guy's real name couldn't be "Baghdad Bob!"
Microsoft’s brand: corporate obedience, personal slavery to a system that self-destructs over time and requires a user to continually fix their system on an unpaid basis.
Apple’s brand: works, simple, powerful, great design.
... wish I could have the 15 years of my life back that
were spent fixing Microsoft products.
Nah, just feature-addled and lawyer-ridden, while stuck in a 90's Seattle grunge timewarp. Other than that, they're great.
While Ballmer is clearly in over his head and should have been fired a long time ago, Microsoft and Apple are two very different companies and brands. Microsoft is at heart a software company and Apple is really a hardware company. Apple even runs Microsoft software and so although they compete somewhat, they are also strategic partners whereas Apple really competes with Dell, HP and the Google Android products.
Well, Microsoft does make Microsoft keyboards. That’s hardware.
90%: "Apple, yeah, love my iPod/Mac/iThing"
10%: "Apple, yeah, I've been using a Mac professionally for 20 years now"
90%: "Microsoft, yeah, that effing crap. I can't believe they're still in business."
10%" "Microsoft, they stole my software and never paid me a dime."
So in a way, Ballmer is right...
As a guy who’s used a PC while his kids have used Apples for 4 or 5 years now, I agree completely.
What a bone head move I think
To me:
Microsoft = Acres of incompetence studded with a surprising amount of tiny gold nuggets.
Apple = Effete elitism wrapped in a shiny white box with a single gray button on it.
Did you see that Apple made a new high today ... 299.50!!!
Goodie, I love generalizations too!
Apple’s brand: corporate CEO obedience, personal slavery to a system that self-destructs over time, because Jobs needs some new revenue, and requires a user to buy a new system at a premium or send it to a self-named “genius bar” where they will charge you a buttload to tell you it’s really your fault.
Windows’s brand: works, simple, powerful, great design, used by a billion people in more devices.
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