Gates/Allchin Email: iTunes "Smoked" Microsoft, Caught them "Flat Footed"
Former Microsoft CEO, Bill Gates, and Windows Vista honcho, Bill Allchin, had an email exchange back in 2003 when Apple launched iTunes and were rather candid about how well Steve Jobs put it together, and how badly Microsoft was caught off guard.
Gates says Microsoft was caught "flat footed". He also praises Jobs and doubts the subscription model Microsoft now uses for the Zune HD:
Steve Jobs ability to focus in on a few things that count, get people who get user interface right and market things as revolutionary are amazing things.
[...] With the subscription who can promise you that the cool new stuff you want (or old stuff) will be there?
Allchin was much briefer:
How did they get the music companies to go along?
We were smoked.
Gizmodo, via Groklaw have the full emails online. The question now becomes, is Apple still catching the competition flat-footed, or is Apple the one who now needs to be careful, lest they be smoked?
[Image via WikiMedia Commons]
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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Apple is trying not to be caught flat footed by their acquisition of Lala, which I'm sure will screw me as a happy user of lala as it exists today
The second Apple thinks they don't have to worry about getting smoked, they will get smoked. As long as they realize that, they don't have to worry about getting smoked.
(brain explodes)
Apple certainly needs to be wary of others, but that's always the case. That's what drives Jobs to be so rigorous and hypervigilant. I still think Apple leads the pack in many area, but the gap is narrowing in many areas too, including the smartphone space.
I'm definitely in the camp that believes the iPad could be a game-changer for Apple if they make the right moves, but in order to maintain their lead with the iPhone, they better start making some major improvements in one of the next two generations.
I remember watching current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talking trash about the original iPhone and its platform, joking how Apple could possibly think this could have any traction with customers, and how there were so many superior Windows Mobile phones out there which far exceeded what that little iPhone could do, adding that the consumer had so many more choices with Windows Mobile vs. a single Apple device. Hah, he's such an arrogant little prick, isn't he? I'm always so uncomfortable (and almost embarrassed for him) anytime he is interviewed when he gets all riled up about something or other. And mind you, I'm a Windows fan (but not fanboy)...I kind of like Steve Jobs. He's a lovable nut...and a marketing genius through and through...
The iPod made iTunes. In fact, it's amazing the iPod/iPhone have been so successful with such a buggy, bloated software behind it. It is even buggy right now (version 9)
I've never had a problem with my iTunes, but I've slimmed it down to about 34mb. But iTunes on PC is ghastly.
I really need to block this junk on Twitter, it's just one boring fanboy blog after another. It wouldn't be so bad if they were at least interesting, but the fact your having to drag up something said back in 2003 speaks volumes.
Sssssssssmoken!
iTunes runs perfectly. Try a quality computer.
does steve jobs wear the same clothes everyday??
Didn't Apple get smoked a few months back when Google purchased the ad company they were negotiating with? Now, that's not getting smoked to market with a visionary product but it is getting smoked to the point where they had to hire an M&A guru. Still, the market is moving so quickly that there is potential to get smoked. Luckily for Apple if they are smoked by a smaller company they could always buy them.
I wonder what Apple's internal response was to the Amazon Kindle, which included (1) an online store for electronic content; (2) content viewable on both Windows and OSX PCs; (3) a dedicated hardware device with always-on connectivity (for e-books); (4) content viewable on the iPhone/Touch.
@Joe McG: I agree, iTunes is Apple's weakest link.
@fastlane
Brand new Lenovo T400 with Intel P6600 and 4gb RAM.
My wife won't install Itunes on her new Sony Vaio because she knows her computer will lag like crazy afterwards.
Do I really need a supercomputer to play mp3s? Tell ya what, next house I buy will have an extra room in it which will house the greatest supercomputer ever made, and it will only have iTunes installed. Probably still laggy...
@Joe McG
There is little question that iTunes on the Mac is pretty good, whereas on Windows it is a piece of crap. The question then becomes, is Apple incapable of making decent software when they do not control the whole pipeline, or are they intentionally releasing crappy software to make the Mac look better? After 9 versions, it has to be one or the other...
@Fastlane
Are you 12 years old? Your probably sitting at your parents $200 computer thinking it's something special, it isn't get over yourself.
Yes, I'm 12 years old, I'm sitting at my parents' $200 Mac, and it's running iTunes perfectly.
Pffft a lolMac, it probably has the same spec as a cheap laptop, much like the rest if the Mac range.
@fastlane go troll elsewhere, iTunes is crap on Windows but good on Mac. It's not the OS's fault, it's Apple's fault for not putting as much attention on the Windows version as they do on Mac.
@Carl and @G
I may not agree with fastlane on iTunes, but he's surely not a troll on tipb.
I'm sure iTunes works great on a Mac, but I am a PC user. What I don't understand is why an MP3 and Video player needs to be almost 100 MB.
iTunes and Blackberry Desktop software are the two most bloated pieces of software known to man...