The Cheap Geek
 
Jan 12 / 2:09pm

Who owns the customer relationship?

26 minutes into the Verge CES 2012 SuperSession video

Nilay Patel-“Who owns the customer relationship when you guys sit down and hash out a phone? It’s you (OEM), it’s the platform provider, it’s the carrier.”

Drew Bamford (HTC)-“Thats just the fact of life in the mobile business right? Everybody owns the customer who wants to own the customer and so there is a fine balance.”

Joshua Topolsky-“Fun for the customer isn’t it, four or five different entities want to own you.”

Aaron Woodman (Microsoft)-“Whats funny about that question is that if you asked a customer most of them would say, at least in the US they would say their mobile operator.”

This just makes John Gruber’s point so much more poetic

Apple: Here is our new phone. It comes in black or white. We will let you sell it.

Apples controls the entire experience with its iPhone customers and no other smartphone OEMs, OS vendors, or carriers can make that claim. They sell the phone, provide support, provide updates, and curate the ecosystem. Maybe its not a coincidence that Apple is making the most money.

Filed under  //  Apple   Google   HTC   Linked   Microsoft   Samsung  

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Sep 30 / 3:55pm

Ballmer is sweating

Ben Brooks via The Brooks Review

Horace Dediu via Asymco

iOS powered devices generate more revenue than all of Microsoft’s products put together

I bet Ballmer is sweating.

Isn’t Balmer always sweating?

Filed under  //  Apple   Linked   Microsoft  

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Jul 28 / 2:01pm

Ducks, Adobe, and Microsoft

Pat Fox via Office for Mac Blog

Finally, the most common question – yes, we are working hard with Apple to enable versioning, auto save, and full-screen for Office for Mac 2011. I know your next question will be “when?”, and unfortunately I can’t answer that – but it’s likely measured in months not days – just to set expectations.

This is a good sign for the longevity of Office on the Mac. After playing with the iWork suite, Text edit, and other lionized applications that support auto save and versions for only a week I can tell that these features will be a requirement for me to use the app. Auto save changes how I work on my mac so much that an app that doesn't support it is more of a hassle than it is worth. I own Office for Mac 2011 and while it is rarely used, when I do it is invaluable. Hopefully other big software vendors (Adobe) will get their ducks in a row and fully support Lion because I am positive that the cheaper indie developed alternatives will.

Filed under  //  Adobe   Linked   Lion   Microsoft   OSX  

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May 13 / 7:46pm

The Balmer days should be over

Ben Brooks via The Brooks Review

Microsoft isn’t dead yet, nor will it be soon. It is however in the early stages of death and Ballmer isn’t going to the hospital — he’s running to go party some more.

Microsoft needs a swift kick in the ass.

Ben nails it. Microsoft needs to get people who make cool things to make them at Microsoft rather than Google, Facebook, and Apple.

Filed under  //  Linked   Microsoft  

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