Can Apple Be Stopped? Who Will Win With Microsoft Bring Windows 8 to the War? Can Google’s Android Brush Off Redmond?

The day Steve Jobs returned to Apple, no one then could have thought that Apple would still be around today let alone remain one of the most valued companies in the world.  And through it all, Apple has resurrected its Mac computers, disrupted markets, created new devices, and continue to innovate to this day.  Easy, right?  Definitely not.

Sure, Steve Jobs, now Tim Cook, and the rest of Apple made it seem easy but I’m sure it’s the challenges of creating the perfect Macbook or crafting a device that they themselves would want to use and the continual assaults on its position is what is driving them forward.

Today, Macs are selling at a healthy clip but its still computers installed with Windows that dominate the market.  Apple just refreshed its Macbook lines from the Macbook Pro with the new Retina Display to the Macbook Air, it’ll look like the back-to-school season is going to be a blow-out one for Apple.  Still, the PC market will be dominated by Windows-based PCs.

The story is more rosy for Apple’s mobile devices. Fom the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad, Apple has withstood challenges after challenges to its dominate position.  The iPod remains the top selling MP3 player with over 70% of the market.  What of the iPad?  It has continued to retain 60 to 70% of the market as challengers from the Xoom to the Galaxy Tab to the Kindle Fire tried to unseat it.  Oh, and let’s not forget HP’s Touchpad or RIM’s Playbook.

And while Apple’s iPhone doesn’t have the market-share the iPod or the iPad currently enjoy, Apple did manage to become smartphone seller in the Holidays quarter of 2011. Today, it has about 70% of the mobile profit.  Depending on who you talk to, the iPhone has taken back share from Android when it started selling on Sprint and Verizon or, at the very least, stunted Android’s growth.  And the game between the iPhone and Android is not over yet.  Apple is expected to release a redesigned iPhone with a new body, bigger screen, and with LTE support this fall.  Samsung’s just released Galaxy S III may have the whole summer to itself, down the home strech to Christmas of 2012, it’s likely going to be all Apple’s.

Don’t think it’s all smooth sailing for the Cupertino-based company from here on.  Like video games where levels get progressively harder and harder, nothing Apple has seen since the Android onslaught will be more determined to knock Apple out of the game.  And that is?  You guessed it.  Microsoft.  For Apple and  Microsoft, the coming  battle between these two old foes will be every bit as epic as the personal computer war waged in the 80s and 90s which Microsoft has taken the crown.

Apple thinks its ready for this and, while there is no signs of , Tim Cook and company are confident with this final match.  It has the feel of the last battle between two bosses like in the video games.  And it is a final match for either Apple or Microsoft.  The winner will most likely be king of the hill for a long while.  This war will be waged on more fronts than that fought between Apple and Google.  It’ll be fought in the social media market, PC market, mobile market, and even the auto industry will feel its effects.  It could redefine content distribution and home entertainment.

And the brutality of the Apple-Microsoft match is going to be for our benefit.  It’s about an all out competition to convince us they have the best products and services.  Blog surrogates will

Should Apple stumble, it will prove that Microsoft’s residence, as it has shown time and time again, has paid off.  Redmond’s patience helped it win the PC war.  And when it was under assault by AOL, Netscape, and Sun, with the help of some illegal monopolistic moves, Microsoft won the browser war and rendered all those companies inert.

Want more proof that Microsoft is patient and resilient?   How about the search market?  Sure, Google has the lion’s share of the search market and while Yahoo and Altavista, to name two are no longer threats to Google, Microsoft has launched volleys after volleys at Google with MSN, Live.com, and, now, Bing.

Apple’s war with Microsoft will commence in a couple of months when both iOS 6 and Windows 8 are released and products based on them flood the market.  Even if Apple does win 2012 or even 2013, it can expect Microsoft to try and try again to beat Apple’s products.  Tens of billions of dollars will be wage this war on both sides.

It’ll be a tug of war the likes we have never seen before in tech history.  The reason is simple.  Neither can Apple, Microsoft, or, for that matter, Google afford to lose.

Certainly, Google’s Android is not suddenly going to go away.  In fact, Apple and Microsoft will continue have to deal with Google, RIM, or anyone else.  It will certainly be dangerous for either them or anyone else to discount a comeback by any company.  We’ll certainly hear a lot from Google this fall with its next version of Android that will pit itself against iOS 6 and Windows 8.

Apple will come at its competitors hard with new innovative products year after year.  Microsoft knows it has to be patient and work deals.  And it has billions in the bank to drag this out.  The same goes for Google.

However, of the three, only Microsoft has the most to lose.  The momentum is in Apple and Google’s favors.  Let’s face it.  The PC market is growing but slowly and has at times shrunk due to global economic conditions.  Apple has the tablet market all it itself and there is proof that its cannibalizing laptop sales.  And what is one of Microsoft’s biggest money making?  Windows.

As for Windows Phone, Microsoft’s proxy, Nokia, has done well with the Lumia phones but, so far, they have not stopped the iPhone or Android.  At best, Windows Phone devices from Nokia has only managed to replaced Symbian sales.  Android devices has over 50% of the market with Apple trailing at around 30%.  Windows Phone devices are still truggle to get to 2%.

This is why the launch of Windows 8 is so critical for Microsoft.  We’ll know this late fall and winter if Windows 8 has the makings of a Vista or Windows 7.  If it’s another Vista debacle, Microsoft risks being made even more obsolete and may even give consumers more reason to look at the Macs as their next PC purchase.  However, if Windows 8 with its new Metro UI is a hit, Microsoft could hit two birds with one stone.  Windows 8  could gain traction in the tablet market, something that Android has failed to do.  And it could give consumers reasons to give Windows 8 phones a along hard look over the iPhone or Android devices.

Perhaps with Windows 8, Microsoft only has to show that it is willing to stay in the game and fight. Any traction, no matter how little in the tablet and smartphone market could be all the difference.  It would harkens back to the original release of the Xbox in 2001.  Against the Playstation and N64, it didn’t do much but slowly, it showed the market that Microsoft was offering something different.  A choice that was not previously available.  Today, the Xbox 360, released on 2005 is the best selling console.

While Microsoft has proven it is capable of developing decade long strategy to win a market, the Xbox is different from Windows.  It is Windows where it derives its profit and it’s the platform where other software like Office runs on.  So this is why Windows 8 cannot only do well in the shrinking PC market, it has to show that it can compete against the iPad in the tablet market and become a viable competitor to the iPhone, Androids, and Blackberries.

We don’t know who will be left standing at the end of the day.  It could be another decade before we can crown a winner.  Maybe there won’t be just one winner but two.  Or Apple, Google, and Microsoft could be locked in a stalemate with equal shares of the market and profit.  However, I know one this for sure:  we mobile warriors will greatly benefit from the innovation and rapid speed of hardware and software releases.  The market needs competition.  The more the better.

There is so much war to talk about.  Xbox, Playstation 3, Wii, and whatever follows will have to contend with Apple TV and Google TV.  Apple is looking to move Siri into your car while Microsoft is already there. And don't forget Google's self-driving car either.

Friday Movie Clip: The Expendables…Two!

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve put up any awesome Friday movie clips and while I’ve got a few more zombie-themed ones, I think I’ll go in a different direction.  No Pixar stuff this week either.  It’s from a movie that I didn’t think much of but, more and more, I think when I first saw it, I did it know.  Yup, that’s right.  I watched the move wrong.

I wanted great acting, smooth dialogue, and a Oscar caliber story.  But with a bunch of anging former action stars, all you’re gonna get are loud over the top explosions with our heroes winning seemingly impossible battles and bad guys who cannot hit anything at all with their guns.

That was The Expendables.  And now, I can’t wait for The Expendables 2 to come out.  This time around, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be joining the fight.  I saw the commercial for it during either the Stanley Cup Finals (which the LA Kings won its first ever championship despite East Coast bias of the crappy NBC Sports announcers) or during one of those NBA playoff games.

Now, now The Expendables 2 coming to a theater near you on August 17th.  I can’t wait!  And this time, I’m gonna watch it the right way.  My mind and any sense of realism checked at the door.

Enjoy and have a great weekend.

My Impression of the Macbook Pro With Retina Display

My iPhone 4 died yesterday so I went to the Apple store hoping that they would replace it with an iPhone 4S as I’ve heard from various online reports.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  There was some kind of part that the Apple genius replaced quickly within a couple of minutes and I was sent on my way.  However, I did not leave without getting a good look at the new Retina Display Macbook Pro.

Wow, oh, wow, oh, wow…

On so many levels, the RDMBP is the perfect laptop for a majority of the mobile market.  From a design perspectively, Apple said this was the best Macbook they’ve designed.  I think they did a great job with the Macbook Air, particularly, my 11” Air so it was kind of hard to top but I think many fans will at the very least agree it’s on par with anything Apple has come out with.  The thinness of the RDMBP was apparent sitting next to a regular Macbook Pro.  And the lid with the screen was sickly thin (but in a good way).

I lifted the RBMBP a bit to gauge how hefty it felt.  It was sturdy to say the last at 4.6 lbs.  Definitely not a backbreaker and lighter than the older design MBP.  Because it look and feel bigger due to the 15” screen, my mind quickly played a trick on me into thinking it was heavier than the 13” MBP.  However, the 13” MBP weighs in at 4.5 lbs but the RDMBP weighs in a 4.46 lbs.

As for performance, there was a giant Scot who was looking at the RDMBP with me.  I bet he played rugby.  Anyway, apparently, he was a developer looking to upgrade from the same model 11” Air.  (To him, he thought it felt heavy.  But we quickly reminded ourselves that we were coming from the perspective of a 11” laptop.).  He found the performance to be satisfactory while the SSD was not as quickly as he said Apple promised.  Still, it was faster than the SSD in the Air.

Then he went into the preference and started playing with Apple’s display settings.  We went from the optimal Retina Display option to one that gave us more desktop real estate.  We used Adobe’s apps, Word and Excel, and Safari.  Bascially, we were looking for apps that were not yet optimized for the Retina Display.  Maybe we weren’t too discerning but the text and everything was absolutely gorgeous.

As zoomed in and out of websites and adjusted the resolutions and you got rendering quality as far as text goes that you’ll see on your iPhone 4 and 4S or the new iPad.

At the end of the day, I concluded the 11” Air that I have could sill carry me through another year.  And maybe in that time, Apple will update the Airs with their own Retina Display.  The giant Scot developer agreed but he was also interested in seeing what speed improvement Apple made to the newer Airs.  I had to go so I didn’t get to know what he found out.

The RDMBP does carry a small premium but it is well worth it.  The Macbook Pro with Retina Display is statement to the rest of the PC market, try to follow us and copy this if you dare.  Apple found a way to make it lighter and incorporate new hardware features without compromising performance.

Anyone looking for a Macbook Pro should definitely get the RDMBP.  If you don’t, you’ll be kicking yourself later on.  As for current Air folks, we can only hope that Apple will bring Retina Display in a year or so.

Make no mistake.  Even as Apple tries to move the consumer market towards the post-PC era dominated by its iPad, it has not neglected the “trucks”.  If anything, the new Macbook Pro with Retina Display serves as a model for where Apple wants trucks to go and is daring everyone else to follow.

Anandtech has done a great review/analysis of the Retina Display.  I recommend a read.

Where is Google’s Siri Response?

Competition is good for consumers in general.  And specific to the mobile market, the continuous battle between the various tech giants has been great for us mobile fans.  And with Apple’s Siri, it was an answer to Google’ voice commands.  And Siri, with its beta problems, is clearly setting the mark to hit.  So, I wonder where is Google’s , or Microsoft’s, response to Siri?

Yesterday, Apple unveiled iOS 6 with a marginally improved Siri.  I reckon it’ll still be a beta feature through the life of iOS 6 because I think there is just too many basic functions, that while works, require more improvements.  And this has offered Google an opportunity to upstage Apple, RIM, or Microsoft.

Perhaps, we’ll see Google’s Siri killer baked into Android 5 when Google releases it later this year.  Or it could operate as a standalone app being made available on competing mobile platforms.  Right now, we just don’t know yet.  In the past, there were rumblings of an app or project called Majel, named after Gene Roddenberry’s wife who was the voice of the starship USS Enterprise’s computer.

I think given the hyper-competitive atmosphere, Majel should prove to be ever bit as robust as Siri and likely offer a few tricks that Siri won’t be able to do as we know it now.

Personally, I like to see how Google’s take on a mobile assistant will differ from Siri.  On top of that, what kind of personality will it have.  Because, if you don’t already know, Siri definitely has a personality.  However, that is just one aspect.  There are plenty that Google can make Majel stand out from Siri.

Given my experience with voice search, Android already does an awesome job understand its users.  I reckon Majel will be just as good if not better.  And that could be better than what we know Siri to do now.  On top of that, Google has its own voice tech that could give Majel a more natural feel.  Perhaps Siri’s robotic, albeit femine voice, is a Pixaresque quirk, who would not want a digital assistant that sounds more natural?

From the WWDC keynote, the Siri demo was neat but I get the feeling that Apple could be holding stuff back for a bigger unveiling in the fall that could be used as a wow-factor to help it sell the next iPhone.

So, which Siri at this time seems like a low hanging fruit for Google’s Majel to meet, Apple has a habit of going to where the puck is going to be, and Google better do the same with Majel as well.  Siri in the fall will not be standing in the same spot today’s Siri is currently.

Verizon Shot Self In the Foot, Likely To Kill Post-Paid Market for Many

Mark this day.  Verizon’s ridiculously expensive shared plan is going to do in the wireless providers and give more boost to the prepaid market.  Why?  The stupid $30 a pop cost for regular phones and $40 a pop for smartphones.  And considering that many industry observers believe the rest of the big four would follow suit, it looks more like this is about the carriers trying to “meterize” data.

Remember, AT&T regretted going with the unlimited data plan and I’m sure its competitors at the time were like “what are you thinking”?

So, what happens now?  As a Verizon subscriber, I find this plan to be idiotic and once my  service is up, I’m likely to shop around.  So far, my family plan only has onewo smartphone and if I were to add more and be forced to switch over to Verizon’s new plan, I will definitely be leaving.  Grandfathered unlimited data plan be damned.  Obviously, I could go the unsubsidized route and keep my current plan.  What happens depends on what I find more appealing from Verizon’s competitors.

If anything, I can see myself switch a few of our lines to more affordable $45 Straight Talk plans which also offers unlimited talk, text, and data (again, unlimited data means 2 or 3 GB of high-speed use before metering starts).

I currently pay $175 to Verizon for 1400 minutes and texting for two lines plus one unlimited data plan.  If I switch over Verizon’s new scheme, I could end up paying $220.

Not very appealing.  And judging by the chatter in forums I've visited so far, no one is jumping all over this.  It's likely Verizon has taken the first step towards killing off the post-paid market and will drive tens of millions mobile warriors into the arms of Walmart and Target for cheaper and more sane pre-paid plans.

New Macbooks: New Features Like Retina Displays More Important Or Battery Life

Considering that this is a focus on social and mobile warriors, new Macbooks coming out of Cupertino (headquarter of Apple Inc) are always welcoming news and drives traffic for Mac and mobile blogs such as this one.  As of now, we are a bit over an hour away from Tim Cook kicking off Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco.

So, let's do a bit of speculation on what new Macbooks will have and what is more important to us mobile users.  Retina Display has been much rumored/speculated about in the blog world.  Even mainstream media, which now relies on us for much of their news, are beginning to pick up on this.  So, I ask you.  Between Retina Display and battery life, which is more important to you?

As the proud owner of an 11" Macbook Air, I am quite happy with the screen quality.  I have never made the mistake of comparing it with my iPhone 4 Retina Display nor my mom's 2012 iPad with its own Retina Display.   Sure, I would be amazed if Apple added Retina Display to the Macbook line and I would be excited to upgrade in a year or so, it would not make me do it right away.

However, as someone who likes to roam around a bit, I would like to see longer battery life in the Macbooks.  Currently, the 11" Air is rated at 5 hours while the 13" has 7 hours of battery life.  I would like that see the Macbook Airs increased their battery life by a two-hour increment while the regular Macbook line go well over 10 hours.

I think if Apple wants to blunt any kind of Windows 8 and ultrabook assault that is sure to come for the second half of 2012, battery life, more than anything, could be a differentiator in the battle for the PC dollars.

Newer features like Retina Displays, Thunderbolt, and better Intel chips might help but as more of us go mobile, it's going to be the battery life that could be the deciding factor.  

iOS 6: Will Apple Replace Youtube With Vimeo? How Should Google Respond?

What Apple has planned for iOS 6 will largely be known by Monday after the keynote.  New features, new apps, and, hopefully, some surprises as well.  For instance, there is too many in the media that has reported on Apple replace Google Maps with its own implementation for that not to be true.  Furthermore, Google’s hastily put-together media even to showcase its own future mapping offerings suggested this as well.

How about other Google apps?  The other one that quickly comes to mind is Google’s Youtube app.  Will that be replaced soon enough?  After all, Apple has replaced Youtube with Vimeo on the desktop iMovie app.  They haven’t done it yet on the iOS app but you can bet that’ll happen sooner rather than later.

I reckon it’s possible that Apple could displace Youtube with Vimeo starting with iOS 6 since that’ll also happen with an iMovie update once iOS 6 is released, likely this fall.

However, Youtube remains a popular app and destination for iOS users.  So, it’s possible Youtube’s popularity could save its spot on your iPhone or iPad.  Then again, it wouldn’t be all that difficult for Google to release a Youtube in the App Store for download by users who want to use.

Should Apple kick Youtube off iOS, don’t be surprised if Google not only release a Youtube but also an iOS movie capture all that allows users to directly upload videos to Youtube.

What do you think?  Google Maps disappearing an isolating case or will Apple do a wholesale cleansing of Google apps including Youtube?

Aside from Google releasing a Youtube app, what else could Google do.  Quite a bit actually.  Not having to deal with Apple's iOS directly could actually free up Google to do more app development for the iOS in ways that a contract agreement with Apple might have prevented.

Depending on the circumstances, Apple replacing Google Maps, maybe Youtube, could be a good thing for both companies.