Apple vs.

Microsoft
Current Analysis
&
Near Future

Presented By: Group X

L1F11MBAM2138

Irfan Qadir Butt

L1F11MBAM2111

M. Ahtasham

L1F11MBAM2112 Khalid Asgher

Presented To

Prof. Taimoor Qureshi

University of Central Punjab

Introduction
Apple and Microsoft two the biggest and most successful consumer electronics and computer software makers in
the world. Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid1980s, followed by the Windows line of operating systems. Apple on the other hand rose to fame in recent years
with the introduction of the iMac and the immensely popular iPod and iPhone and lately iPad.
These two companies have been battling for the bigger market share, from their operating systems to portable
media players. And it has been going on for almost four decades.

Apple Inc.

Steven Wozniak and Steven Jobs had been friends in high school. They both were interested in electronics. After
the completion of graduation they kept themselves connected which each other. After graduation Wozniak got job
in Hewlett-Packard and Steven Jobs in Atari.
st

On 1 of April,1976 the two founded Apple Computer Co., but the company was incorporated on January 3, 1977
in Cupertino, California. Apple faced low market share in 1980s. Steve Jobs who was ousted in 1985 returned back
to Apple as a CEO in 1996 after his company NEXT bought by Apple. In 2001 Apple inc. introduced iPod music
player and established itself as market leader in electronic industry

[1]

Currently Apples product line includes Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and iTunes.

Apples Hierarchy Diagram:

Board of directors

Soohrob

Ceo

(Creative Director)

Timothy D.Cock &

Peter Oppenheimer
COO & CFO

Senior Vice
President, iPhone
Division

Senior Vice
President, Retail

Senior Vice
President,
Worldwide Product
Marketing

Senior Vice
President, Software
Engineeing

Senior Vice
President,
Applications

Senior Vice
President,
Hardware
Engineering

[19]

This is the organization chart of Apple incorporation. Boards of directors are at the top of the list. Under board of
directors there are CEO and creative director and under CEO there are senior vice presidents of different
departments.

Microsoft Incorporation

Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft dominated the home computer operating system with MSDOS in 1981. With the release of IBM PC which flooded the market and captured 97 % of the market till 2000, had
[2]

Microsofts PC DOS . This made Microsoft a Standard OS and many programs were written for DOS which
increased its popularity. With time Microsoft moved from DOS to Windows a GUI OS and now we have the latest
windows, Windows 7 and Windows 8 on the waiting list.
By time Microsoft diversified and in 2001 it entered the Gaming Industry with its Gaming Console XBOX. Its new
[3]

console Xbox 360 sales have crossed 57 million units . Xboxs Kinect sensor after selling a total of 8 million units
in its first 60 days holds the Guinness World Record of being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device" and
[4]

has sold more than 10 million devices till date . With its Microsoft Gaming Studios, now develops its on video
games.
Windows Mobile OS came in 2010 and brought Microsoft to Mobile OS. With its Windows Mobile 7.5 it has
managed to take back some of its lost market in the mobile sector.
Currently Microsoft product line includes Bing, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Advertising, Microsoft Office,
Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows Live, Skype, Windows Phone OS, Microsoft Game
Studio, and Xbox 360.

Microsofts Hierarchy Diagram:

BIll Gates
(Chairman)

Steve
Ballmer
(CEO)
President
service and
tools
business

President
Microsoft
Entertainment
and Chief XBOX
Officer

General
manager
of
services

SVP
microsof
t service
and IT

COO

SVP
General
counsel

President
microsoft
internationa
l

SVP Finance
and
administrati
on

Chief
software
architect

[20]

This diagram shows the hierarchical structure of Microsoft incorporation. Bill Gates is the chairman of the
Microsoft. Under bill Gates there is CEO and under him there are presidents and chief of different departments.

Different Approaches
Apple-the notoriously secretive company doesnt like unveiling products until they are polished. It doesnt publish
detailed stats about how people are using its products. And it rarely makes dramatic changes based on user
feedback.
Its an approach that has worked just fine for Apple. Steve Jobs and his team have been able to develop products
and features that users wanted long before users they even knew they wanted them.

Its really hard to design products by focus groups, Steve Jobs told BusinessWeek in 1998.
A lot of times, people dont know what they want until you show it to them. [5]
This is why you wont find an Apple blog that details user behavior in iOS. This is why Apple only gives developers a
few months to play with new versions of Mac OS X before they get released to the public.
Microsoft on the other hand would release a beta version a long time before the product is released. Taking
feedback from the users and then making changes in their products accordingly.

Windows vs. Mac

[6]

Windows had a monopoly in Operating Systems until 1998 before Mac entered the market. Mac was quite plain
and simple at that time compared to Windows but it lacked compatibility with many software which made it
useless.
Windows is a perfect operating system for all types of software, from accounts, media to games it has got
everything while there are very limited softwares that support Mac. it doesnt even support the Windows at the
start had the problem of crashing down, blue screens but Windows developed it and now the latest Windows 7 is a
huge success.
Apples Mac has a very big advantage that is somewhat virus proof, due to its design and because of its small
market share. It would not be viable for the virus programmer to attack such a small market, so very few hackers
attack Mac systems
Coming to the main point, Apple is designed just for a home user while Windows is designed for a home user as
well for the workgroup and domain environment. Domain services are necessary for systems to work in offices and
Mac lack this option, which makes it a second choice.

iPhone vs. Windows Phone

[7]

iPhone is one of the most successful product of Apple Inc. which has sold in millions around the globe. The iPhone
[8]

alone sold a total of 73.5 million by the end of fiscal year 2010 . Microsoft on the other hand was out of the
market with its outdated Windows Mobile, it seems like Microsoft wasnt much interested in the Mobile sector.
With the huge success of iPhone and other brands, Microsoft launched its new mobile OS Windows Phone, which
gained back some of its lost market and is still growing.
iPhone is not just a software its hardware and software. It has iOS operating system. Apple has upper hand in the
mobile sector and controls about 18% of the market, iPhone has earned a lot of revenue for Apple.
Till now Apple is being threatened by all of its rivals from the hardware industry along with the software industry
because of its innovative features it has managed to survive the battle. In the future if Apple carries on with more
innovative features it can capture more market.

Relationship of Microsoft and

Apple
Microsoft and Apple had a good relationship before Mac was launched, you would be astonished to know that
[9]

Apple bought an application from Microsoft priced $31000 for their Apple II .
After Mac was launched, Microsoft launched Windows 1 which also had a GUI. Apple Inc. sued Microsoft over its
[2]

Patents rights of using GUI, Apple lost all its claims . Even after the case Microsoft still made software for Mac
and to the date is still.
At the 1997 Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would join Microsoft to release new versions of
Microsoft Office for the Macintosh, and that Microsoft made a $150 million investment in non-voting Apple
[9]

stock .
In the future a legal battle among the two rivals for Apple and Microsoft could occur as both are in a patent race
over touchless gesture-controls
Apples new Apple TV.

[10]

. As both are introducing new technologies such as Microsofts Omni Touch and

Stock Price Comparison

[18]

This graph is showing the stock price comparison of Apple and Microsoft with blue and red lines. We can see that
from 2007 to January 2010 Microsoft stock prices were higher than Apple but after January, 2010 there is a
downfall in the stock prices of Microsoft while Apples share price started floating. At present stock prices of Apple
reached $365 whereas Microsofts Shares are at $215.

Revenue & Net Income Comparison

[17]

This is a comparison of Apples and Microsofts annual revenue and net income from the last 5 years show in blue
and red respectively. Apple started to grew with the release of iPod and iPhone and in July 2010 Apples revenue
crossed Microsofts revenue for the first time in its history, mainly by the release of iPad and iPhone 3G. From then
Apple stayed on the top and in January 2011 its net profit also crossed Microsofts after introducing iPhone 4G and
iPad2. Apples iTunes has also earned millions for the company.
The reason behind Apple earning such a high profit while having a short range of product is that its products are
unique and their prices are high. People still buy them because of their uniqueness.

Near Future
In the coming year 2012 Apple and Microsoft both are launching new products, which would capture a lot of
market.

New Apple TV
Apple is working on its new TV, which would have a touchless control Gesture Control. It means now you could
change a channel just by waving your hands.

No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable
channels
Late Steve Jobs

[10]

iPhone 5
It is highly anticipated that Apple would release its next generation of iPhone, iPhone 5 the next year. If it does like
every release its going to capture more market and earn millions of dollars. Still nobody knows when iPhone 5 is
going to be releases and what new features would it hold.

Windows 8
Next October Microsoft is going to release its new Operating System Windows 8. Its totally changed and is
specially designed for touch-user interface. The edge it has is that, it will work on the popular ARM-designed low
power processors for the first time and would be the same for a PC, Tablet and Mobile. Which means any
[11]
application that runs on your PC would also run on your tablet and mobile . This would make Windows Phone OS
to be greatly compatible and would be a big threat to its rival iOS.
Here some screenshots that Microsoft has released.

XBOX 360 Major Update

Microsoft is soon going to give a major update for its Xbox 360 Console, which would make the console a complete
entertainment system instead of just a gaming system. Microsoft has signed up 40 media firms to provide both live
and on-demand movie and TV services for the console. In addition to that the long waited feature of new Apple TV,
the update also lets people control their TVs by talking into the Kinect motion-spotting gadgets

[12]

XBOX 720
Well Apple is not Microsofts rival in gaming sector, but with the release of Xbox 720 the profits of Microsoft are
[13]
going to rise wildly .

Microsofts Strategic Alliances

Apple makes its own Operating System and Hardware, which gives it a great edge but has also made it rivals to
many firms. Now it has to compete with both types of industries, the Operating Software producers (Microsoft,
Goggle) and hardware producers (HTC, Samsung, Nokia, LG). On the other hand Microsoft only has to compete
with OS producers.
Recently, after Apple cased against Samsung on its patents rights and got Samsungs new tablet banned from many
countries

[14]

. Samsung has now started producing mobiles with Windows Phone, in other words strategically allied

with Microsoft to take revenge. It is not only starting to produce its mobiles with Windows Phone but is also giving
Microsoft royalty for every sale of its Smartphone and tablet computers that run the rival Google Android platform
[15]

. HTC, Nokia and LG which also faced a fall in sales due to iPhone are now also producing mobiles with Windows

Phone. As all Apples rivals are getting together, things are getting difficult for it on the other hand Microsoft is
getting advantage.

Microsofts Omni Touch

Microsoft researchers have exposed Omni touch, a clever way to turn any surface area into a steerable touch
screen in a joint project with Carnegie Mellon University. Omni touch turns any surface in the users environment
into a touch interface. Omni touch is a wearable multi touch interaction everywhere. It is a wearable system that
enables graphical, interactive, multi touch input on arbitrary, everyday surfaces

[16]

Here some of its pictures:

Its currently under development so we assume that the device size would be reduced till Omni-Touch is released.

Conclusion
Keeping in mind of the above products, it seems Apple would have to face a real competition in the coming years.
If Apple could compete with its compatibility problem then there are big chances that it could topple Microsoft in
no time. But for that it has to completely redesign its operating system, which is to some point impossible to do.
The real challenge that Apple has to face is in Mobile sector, with all the rivals getting together and the new
Windows 8 compatibility option would really mess things up for Apple. Now it has to come with new features and
options for which it always has an upper hand, if it wants to keep the market.

[Words: 2185]

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