Chazore said:
YOu don't need to have to use different OS's, you can just use MS windows, MS phone, MS tablets, MS console etc. MS have a phone that will plug into a dock and work with a desktop screen and keyboard if that's what you're after. Personally I don't really see anything amazing in a limited idea of trying to be jack of all trades, master of none, especially with a one corp, one product ideal that some have. I'm a consumer who prefers buying different products from different companies that serve different purposes and ones that do it well rather than wanting everything to do everything under a single company. Market fracture is always going to be a thing, it's been this way for centuries for as long as there has been options and competition, especially with technology. Apple fans have bought their Apple products for years, nothing has changed that userbase from buying what that company sells. High quality software is subjective though, we've seen MS being on and fof with Windows throughout the years, same with Apple in both the tablet/phone area and the software stores they've provided over the eyars and sofwatre allowed onto their stores hasn't produced stellar quality everywhere with no bad quality games/software in sight. We don't really need console style PC's and tablets, that's what you want based on your very niche preference of how you do your bills and such from your Vita/PS3 which is as niche as you can get since everyone else in the average world uses their laptop/desktops to handle their documents, emails, bills etc. Phones and tablets can do some tasks but not every task known to man and neither are the consoels, there is a reason why a PC designs everything else, it's the base for everything nad nothing much has changed it's place and it's main use. You aren't going to get a Sony tablet controlling dams or power planets, otherwise we'd be there right now if we shared such a small and odd dream. |
There are definitely die-hards, but Apple is really struggling of late. Macs have been really stagnant, and Mac Pro looks like it might be at EOL status. They canned their Thunderbolt display with no replacement (a product that was already vastly obsolete and should have been updated at least two years ago).
iPhone sales have slipped a lot, tablet sales are bad for everyone (this is a by-product of phones not being standard mediocre performance + 4" screens when iPad launched, but 5"+ and fast, so tablets are largely redundant.
The biggest failure I've seen from them is the iPad pro. It's laughable to any real extent, and they're trying to market it as a replacement to a real computer (such as Macbook / Surface / regular laptop / etc). iOS is fine for phones, but it is absolutely useless in terms of being a work device, where the vast majority of computer sales are allocated annually. Initial sales were strong, but this is always the case with Apple stuff, they have their core die-hards of course, but beyond that this device is insanely expensive and virtually useless to the majority of people (assuming they already have a smartphone and some functional computer). It's such a poorly priced/marketed product that it risks damaging their relationships with some of those die-hards.
I remember an age where if you went to any Apple-centric web site, all you ever saw was universal, unending praise for everything Apple. Now, you see a lot of frustration and even anger there, particularly in respect to their computer options. Tim Cook is either clueless or doesn't care. The biggest money maker for Apple is iPhone of course, but that's a dangerous thing to try to rely on forever. Smartphones are rapidly approaching the 'pragmatic/price concious' phase because even cheap phones today are quite good, and more than enough for the vast majority of users. Nothing lasts forever, we won't see people slapping down $800 for Galaxy S15s and iPhone 14s. Whatever IS available in ten years from now will be basically disposable and ludicrously powerful even at the $49 price point. I have a $59 phone for work that has quad-core, decent GPU, 2GB ram, 16GB storage, 720p IPS 5" Display, and Marshmallow. It runs circles around my personal iPhone 5. And I'll likely never buy another iPhone because it's just horrendous value for money.
I also HATE the idea of walled garden ecosystems. It's aggravating as shit to someone like myself. I do absolutely applaud Microsoft for expanding Xbox and PC cross-platform franchising/marketing/UWA/etc. That's a great step that makes things better for consumers who choose their products. But at the same time, you can still run Steam on PC, Origin, whatever. If they close that off, then that's more company-specific BS that I can't stand. Even competing standards can be a bitch. Remember HD-DVD vs Bluray? Sucked for anyone who bought HD-DVD, and even if HD-DVD had survived to this day, that would still be a crap situation because then stores/RedBox/etc would have to stock a more diluted selection of SKUs, making it harder to find what you want, and more troublesome for them to provide.
In my dream world, companies would compete at the content level and at the hardware quality level, but all that content could be accessed/utiliized anywhere. Zero exclusivity anywhere, so the best content could always reach the largest possible audience, and niche titles wouldn't be hamstrung by potentially being on a platform that few people have access to.
