Easy in, Easy Out?
June 22nd, 2012 - 4:15 pm
Acer founder Stan Shih says Microsoft has “no real intention” to enter the hardware market, despite the big Surface intro earlier this week. From DigiTimes:
Microsoft has no reason to sell hardware because such sales bring much less profit than licensing its software products, according to Shih. In addition, Microsoft will face many difficulties marketing tablet PCs on its own, including production management, distribution, and after-sales maintenance service, Shih indicated.
Those are serious hurdles, but offending your OEMs (which Ballmer did on Monday) is a pretty serious hurdle, too.
That was my first impression, too. A “reference design”, to make sure the hardware companies know what is possible.
But they sure sounded like they intend to market the sucker.
gosh leadership and vision like this is sorely needed at RIM.
What a maroon…
Low margins.
Same reason IBM sold Thinkpad to Lenovo of China.
I dunno. I’ve been on the Apple orchard for 20 years. I think Windows 8, one OS to rule them all, beckons me toward the chain link gate that leads to applications freedom.
Dumb, that comment is dumb. There is no other, more accurate word for it. Apple is on track to become the single most profitable company in the history.
Let me say that again. Apple, a hardware maker, will become the most profitable corporation that has ever existed in human civilization.
Some hardware is low margin, but not all. Apple is making a killing, partly because it’s selling hardware at high margins.
Also, MS already makes hardware. They’ve made peripherals for ages. Not to mention Zunes and Xboxes. Distribution? Give me a break. They have a chain of retail stores and close relationships with all the big box stores. I think a company that had to deal with incredibly high failure rates of its first generation of xbox 360′s (to the tune of a billion dollar warranty extension) can manage after-sales maintenance service issues. None of these things are show stoppers for MS, not even a little.
The biggest issue is offending their OEM partners, but if it means they can reclaim brand supremacy, revitalize OS sales, and make a killing on hardware sales they will do so.