Apple's system, the Mac, was relegated to also-ran status. Looking back on the PC era, Microsoft won because the hardware became commoditized and many partners created many different kinds of PC, giving customers great choice. Those OSes are Apple's and Apple's alone. Or not, it's their choice.Īpple of course doesn't license Mac OS X or iOS to other companies. They can change any and everything about the system if they want. With Google's OSes, that firm's partners get the source code. Only Microsoft's own devices can benefit from insider knowledge of these OSes. Microsoft's PC and device maker partners cannot modify Windows at all, and can only apply their own apps onto of Windows in very subtle and minor ways.

Microsoft wants the advantages of Apple's deep vertical integration while denying it to their partners. And those costs are substantial, often a huge percentage of the entire cost of any given device.īut here's the kicker. With Surface and, soon, the Lumia handsets, Microsoft is making first-party devices that incur no Windows licensing costs, even though it is passing those costs onto partners. Because this adaptability has downsides, Google does make so-called Nexus devices (and, for Chrome OS, the Pixel, which has slightly different and upmarket aims) as well. Second, those partners aren't' just free to use Google, they're free to modify it too: While I'm not actually sure what the story is with Chrome OS, Android licensees can do as they wish with the OS. And for two very crucial reasons.įirst, Google doesn't require device makers to pay for Chrome OS or Android, so those systems are free for anyone to use as they see fit. Isn't that exactly what Microsoft is doing with Windows and Windows Phone?Īctually, no. Google makes their own devices and still licenses the underlying OSes-Chrome OS and Android, in this case-to third parties. Now, I know some of you are thinking, wait a second, hold on here. And the company that is eating your lunch isn't Apple. And yet the firm is so hell-bent on copying the Apple vertical-integration model that it has destroyed its relationships with hardware partners while failing to produce first-party devices that customers actually want. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: Microsoft is no Apple.

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