It finally had to happen. It now looks like Apple's iPhone business has eclipsed Microsoft.
In his blog, Parislemon points out that Microsoft in the last quarter brought in $20.89 billion in revenue. Apple brought in more than double at $46.33 billion. "Put another way: Apple's iPhone business alone is larger than all of Microsoft's businesses combined. And – just as remarkably – if you took away Apple's iPhone business from the chart, the remaining Apple businesses would still be larger than Microsoft's total business. And Apple's earnings would look a lot more evenly distributed then."
Tim Worstall at Forbes says it's not so much a case of Microsoft being beaten in its own market. It's more about the market becoming a subset of a wider one, when advancing technology makes the monopolist's position almost irrelevant. Who'd have thunk it.
So how can Microsoft get reclaim its market share when the PC is being replaced by tablets and mobile devices? The answer is telephony. Mashable says Windows Phone 8 coming out soon might do the trick, particularly if it's integrated with Skype which Micrososft owns. "Let's not forget about Android Ice Cream Sandwich … we should not forget about Apple's iOS and the upcoming iterations. The competition never sleeps. However, those who are tired of seeing a grid of icons, those who want better battery life, seamless PC-tablet-phone integration, a fluid experience, shared apps, and so on will probably consider Windows Phone 8. Microsoft won't turn die-hard iOS and Android fans but they can gain back some of the users lost in favor of the competition once Windows Phone 7 hit the market."
Watch this space, it will be fascinating.
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