Today, I looked up the stock value of Apple and Microsoft to compare the two. The stock values were extremely far apart. Apple’s stock is $633.68, while Microsoft is a whopping $31.52. Wow! This is incredible. The market evaluations of both companies are a big difference too. Apple is worth 590 billion dollars, while Microsoft is only 264 billion. Apple is worth more than double of Microsoft. But why is this the case? Microsoft dominates in market share when it comes to PCs and gaming consoles right? Well, yes but, and this is a big but, Microsoft is losing ground on both playing fields. We’ll discuss gaming consoles, PCs, the upcoming Windows 8, and the grounds that Microsoft has already lost at.
Let’s discuss gaming consoles first. Apple is not a competitor in this, since they don’t have a gaming console even available. Microsoft holds this ground at about 28-30% of the market. This might sound good, however PS3 and Wii together beat it out by 70-72%. PS3 has 27-29% alone. Remember, when xbox 360 came out it had all of the seventh generation console market, now it doesn’t even have a third of that. Let’s not forget that people are going more and more mobile, which by my estimate, the gaming console market may never die out completely, but you’re about to see a DROP in users. People like to be more mobile, this is a market that while Sony and Nintendo have both entered, Microsoft has yet to enter.
Now let’s talk PCs. This is a level that discludes everyone besides Microsoft and Apple. In 2011, It is estimated that 14% of computer users use Macs. Clearly, Apple is not the winner here, and I see that. However, look at Macs numbers a few years ago. In 2007, 7 percent of computer users used Mac. That is double the computer market share in the past 4-5 years, and Apple is only continuing that path. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Apple has entered the more mobile space, which Microsoft has still yet to enter or gain traction.
Windows 8- Microsoft is going to kill its PC base. It’s making the move to more mobile devices. The only problem with this is that desktop users will upgrade to 8 and hate it. They will then switch to Mac. Apple and Android have gained enough market share to be able to not allow Microsoft to enter in with a significant market share. Microsoft has failed at tablets and smartphones. However, apparently they think it’s smart to throw out an operating system that apparently worked for years, to only bring one in that has failed in the past. Basically, they’re replacing a 86% market share operating system with a 1% market share operating system. Windows 8 looks a lot like Windows 7 phone operating system, which as you know has not gained any traction whatsoever.
Monopolies of Apple- Almost everything that Apple got itself into has succeeded. Media players such as iPods, mobile phones (iPhone), tablets (iPad), media services such as iTunes, the newer cloud services such as iCloud. At least Apple is showing consideration for a TV. Microsoft, again has not. Microsoft has not entered any of these fields with considerable or even countable market share. They canceled the Zune, they have almost 0% market share on their phones, and I have yet to see a successful Windows tablet. They’re trying to enter it now, but they are too late, they will not gain market share in tablets or phones, they’ll lose PC market share and Microsoft will cease to exist in the big guys realm. Microsoft has done good, they stole Apple’s ideas successfully, now it is time for them to end. They have entered the Post-PC revolution too late. Because of this, Microsoft will meet it’s downfall.
Thank you for reading,
Joe