Ha. Yes Microsoft targets enterprise customers. By purchasing tons of print ads in PC Magazine etc. Take a look at the SG&A for both companies and you'll see that for a company that doesn't manufacture many tangible goods (the xbox is a blip on the radar compared to Apple's manufacturing) sure spends a lot of money, much of it on advertising:
Most people in the cell phone industry said the same thing five years ago.
But, having used both WM5/6 and Symbian, those phones weren't just less slick, they were nightmares to use compared to what we have today. It really was baby software.
It wasn't for everyone, that much is true. But I liked Windows Mobile on my iPAQ PDA (not a phone), it was fine for me. As a technical user I didn't mind the interface, it was familiar to some extent and had the complexity that I loved about Windows.
Microsoft is betting their future on a redesigned Windows with an unprecedented upgrade price of $39, and just pissed off their hardware vendors by launching their own PC devices.
And you don't think the PC industry is being disrupted?
Microsoft having to lower prices is more a function of the total cost of a PC these days. When an average PC cost $2000, suddenly $200 for an OS upgrade wasn't huge. Now when your PC costs $100-$200 then a $200 OS upgrade suddenly hurts the pocket.
Also for Microsoft's strategy to succeed its essential for them to get as much of their market using Windows 8 and Metro as quickly as possible. Hence the sacrifice of the existing cash cow in the hope it will birth a new cash cow.
Microsoft has redesigned Windows and lowered prices multiple times in the past, before the advent of the iPhone. I wouldn't call this a disruption. Furthermore, I would guess only extremely few people are choosing an iPhone rather than a laptop/desktop computer.
I was specifically talking about the iPhone. Tablets definitely stand a better chance at "disrupting" the industry although this is also debatable.
I will call it a disruption when people start using iPhones/iPad instead of laptops/desktops. This doesn't seem to be the case for a large majority of people.
It will work just like the iPad. GUI elements will stay the same size, only at a much higher resolution. Old apps will "see" a 1440x900 display and just look more blurry.
The @2x.png thing is already a kind of annoying work-around. Lack of fragmentation is Apple's pridepoint, but I guess this situation is going to get worse before it gets better..
Do oter manufacturers except Panasonic cover spills?
How is the machine milled MacBooks designed to fail at the first sign of trouble?
The batteries are actually designed to last for many years and pretty easy to replace with a screwdriver.
My MBP from 2008 is still going strong, and that's the less solidly built pre-unibody. Unlike many others, Apple extended the warranty because of the nVidia chipset bug.
The last time I checked, most major manufacturers except Apple (Lenovo, Dell, HP, ...) let you buy Accidental Damage Protection (which does cover spills among many, many other things).
From what I hear, Apple can sometimes be nice about accidents, but other times they're sticklers about the rules.
Here in New Zealand we have The Consumer Guarantees Act. The beauty of it is that the item is covered for as long as a reasonable person would expect (or something like that), and is suitably vague about how long this. Here is a case where a 4 year old computer was repaired at the manufacturers expense. buying extended warranties is kind of a waste here, as complaing to a government agency may well get you the same result, for free (it has worked for me). http://www.consumerblogs.org.nz/tech/2009/04/squaring-up-to-...
