Technology Pundits: The Battles of Summer: Will the Real Winner Stand Up? Jun 19, 2009 – By Rob Enderle
Ah Summer when we can kick back, enjoy the sun, and put out thoughts of
conflict behind us. Wait a moment, Summer?!? Evidently Microsoft and Apple
missed a memo because both are swinging for the fences and not just at each
other they may separately and collectively take Firefox and Google out.
Safari Kicks IE Ass
We haven't really started summer and some really strange battles are cropping
up. First, and for the first time, Apple Safari is actually kicking browser
butt. Easily the fastest browser currently in the market it is getting
praises as it rolls over (http://tinyurl.com) Microsoft and Firefox easily and even kicks
Google butt. I don't think any of us saw this coming, typically Apple is
heavy talk in this space and even Apple users have quietly preferred Firefox
but this latest version of Safari getting a lot of attention and could take
Firefox out. Microsoft and Google are clearly in this for the long fight but
as Opera has found out, there is really only room for a couple of major
browsers and first Opera and now Firefox may get voted off the island, not by
Microsoft, but by Apple. Seriously who saw this coming?
Bing Plasters Google
Now when I saw Bing I knew it would take share but believed that Google would
have seen it coming and respond quickly. Nope, evidently Google now is in
crisis mode and lesson for all you would be CEOs out there, if Microsoft had
bought Yahoo they would not have built Bing the merger would have tied them
up for months. Bing did what MicroHoo couldn't have done, and kicked
(http://tinyurl.com)
Google butt. Google has evidently put one of its founders back to work but
Microsoft now has the high ground and once in the lead that company is very
hard to stop. What is also interesting is this win is largely as a result of
using Apple techniques which I find fascinating. The Bing advertising
campaign is directly in Google's face, something that Apple has always been
willing to do but, up until recently, few others have tried. This is
Microsoft channeling Apple to beat Google.
Windows vs. MacOS: Tennis Anyone?
This is like watching a tennis match and for much of the last couple of years
Apple kicked Microsoft's butt. But for the last several months Microsoft,
after largely fixing Vista, came back with an in-your-face campaign and
started taking market share back. Most recently Apple announced a low cost
upgrade plan for Snow Leopard and a release date in the September that was
like a first strike where Microsoft couldn't respond for 30 days in the
critical back-to-school and holiday season. I understand Microsoft is
preparing a response and, for once, it is a good one. Seriously this is like
a tennis match, both companies are playing to win and both are on their
respective games. Calling a winner may have to wait until 1st quarter 2010.
By the way, from a product standpoint, Snow Leopard and Windows 7 are both
likely the best operating systems either company has ever built. That kind of
means we win regardless.
IBM vs. SunOracle (Pronounced Snorkel)
Oracle stole Sun from IBM but it doesn't look like they really thought this
through. Sun employees and customers were already at massive risk due to
sequential layoffs and a Strategy of the Week policy that destroyed nearly
all confidence in Sun's management. With the acquisition and now reports that
Oracle clearly doesn't want the hardware business, coupled with a large
portion of Sun's base that evidently doesn't want to belong to Oracle, IBM is
cutting (http://tinyurl.com) through that customer base like a knife
through butter. By the way this isn't the only thing IBM seems to be cutting
through, they hare launching programs targeting stimulus spending in the US
and Europe and may be the biggest winner in the fight for those funds as
well. Financial analysts, as a result are upping their outlook for IBM's
shares as a result and IBM appears to be kicking some Snorkel ass and taking
some Stimulus Dollar names.
Technology Pundits: The Battles of Summer: Will the Real Winner Stand Up?
