Ballmer: Linux Bigger Competitor than Apple

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer had some interesting things to say yesterday about which companies Microsoft sees as its competitors in the client operating system space. You'd think Apple was their number one competitor - and you'd be wrong. Microsoft sees two other competitors as their primary adversaries.

Microsoft sees piracy as its biggest competitor. "Number two market share goes to Windows pirated, or unlicensed," Balmer said, "That's a competitor that's tough to beat, they've got a good price and a heck of a product, but we're working on it." This isn't exactly new information, but it's interesting to see it spelled out so clearly.

Much more interesting is Microsoft's idea of Linux and Apple, According to Microsoft, Linux is a bigger threat to the company than Apple, placing Linux above Apple in the marketshare figure pie chart thing. "Linux, you could see on the slide, and Apple has certainly increased its share somewhat," Ballmer said
Source: OS News

Read more...

Apple And China Mobile Can’t Agree On Anything

According to an inside source at the China Mobile Research Institute, the most recent talks between Apple and China Mobile broke down over control of the App Store. This isn’t the first time the two companies have disagreed.

Interfax China’s anonymous source has reported that China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou wants control of the App Store including payment collection.

“Wang said China Mobile should operate the application store itself in order to maintain its advantage,” the source said.

Wang has a problem with the App Store’s use of credit cards because most customers in China pay with money deposited into mobile accounts instead of the popular plastic currency. China Mobile is currently working on their own way of distributing smartphone applications.

The other negotiations consisted of talks about the iPhone itself. Apple previously asked for 20-30 percent of China Mobile’s revenues from iPhone users. That deal was rejected.

Apple then attempted a subsidized pricing model where it would sell the iPhone to China Mobile for $600 per unit while forgoing any other revenue sharing and once again, China Mobile didn’t agree with Apple.

All of the negotiations have occurred over the past 18 months and have included Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and other various company officials. Apple has always considered the Chinese market a high priority due to its size.

China Mobile is the largest mobile carrier in the world with over 415 million subscribers and those numbers are from mid 2008. Apple may have to turn to one of the smaller mobile carriers in China to get the iPhone finally installed there.

Source..

Read more...