By: Aseem Gaurav on July 7, 2012
The epic struggle of two technology titans – Microsoft and Apple – is set to take a new turn. A 2012 first-quarter report from research analysts Asymco suggest that Apple products are eating away at Microsoft’s dominance of the global computer market.
Asymco founder and author Horace Dediu, believes the success of iPhone and iPad means Apple will draw ‘parity’ with Microsoft within one or two years.
According to Dediu, it comes as a no surprise that Apple has been inching closer to the software giant, thanks to the emergence of portable computing.
The data suggests that while computers running Microsoft Windows still has a large install base, 78 per cent globally, the Redmond-based company witnessed a sharp fall of 90 per cent in market share from an year ago period. Apple’s OS X is currently being used on 3.7 per cent of computers.
In the report, Dediu stated that Microsoft’s domination over Apple showed a declining trend even before iOS made debut in 2007. For Microsoft, 2004 was the period of maximum growth, but thereafter it witnessed a steady fall. Whilst on the other hand Mac sales begin to grow at a much faster rate, mainly because of Apple’s marketing.
The Cupertino, California-based Apple witnessed growth largely because of their fascinating product line that include: iPad, Mac, iPhone, iPod, etc. The company's products were more robust and looked better – thus giving people a better option to Windows-based laptops. Apple’s dominance in mobile computing space is also well known. Apple's hugely popular tablet, the iPad, is a leader in the consumer tablet market, and is growing in market share at a rapid pace. A research by Gartner suggests that iPad, which reported sales of 14.6 million units in 2010, is likely to go up to whooping 148 million by 2015.
According to Dediu, the post-PC era has "not only reversed the advantage that Microsoft had but cancelled it altogether”.
Dediu predicts that this may result to dire consequences for Microsoft, adding that the wiping out of any platform advantage around Windows will render it vulnerable to direct competition. “This is not something it had to worry about before. Windows will have to compete not only for users, but for developer talent, investment by enterprises and the implicit goodwill it has had for more than a decade,” he adds.
Let’s be clear, these are desperate times for Microsoft. What the Redmond-based technology giant needs is a game changer on the software and tablet front. It’s important that Microsoft gets Windows 8, currently in Beta version and touted to be the answer to IOS and Android recent challenge, right. However, experts say that Windows 8 may not be a game changer for the company, as it is a mere extension of Windows, and people would rather stick to the technology offered by Apple or Google. Similarly, Microsoft’s new tablet, Surface, appears to shake things up in the battle of the tablets, but it is hard to say now whether it will be an iPad killer or not.
