Linked List: August 24, 2013

Saturday, 24 August 2013

Krugman on Microsoft and Apple 

There’s much to quibble about in this Krugman post, but I’ll keep it short:

The Microsoft story is familiar. Back in the 80s, Microsoft and Apple both had operating systems to sell; Apple’s was clearly better. But Apple misunderstood the nature of the market: it said, “We have a better system, so we’re going to make it available only on our own beautiful machines, and charge premium prices.” Meanwhile Microsoft licensed its system to lots of people making cheap machines — and established a commanding position through network externalities. People used Windows because other people used Windows — there was more software available, corporate tech departments were prepared to provide support, etc.

Two things.

First, when we talk about the ’80s and ’90s and Apple, we’re talking about the Mac. And though the Mac suffered mightily in the late ’90s, dropping so low that it almost brought the entire company down, today, the Mac makes Apple the world’s most profitable PC maker. Even if you don’t count the iPad as a “PC”, no one makes more money selling personal computers than Apple. In the long run, Apple’s strategy paid off.

Second, Krugman is right about the fundamental difference between Windows’s success and iOS’s. The beauty of the Windows hegemony is that it wasn’t the best, and didn’t have to be the best. Once their OS monopoly was established, they just had to show up. Apple’s success today is predicated on iOS being the best. They have to stay at the top of the game, both design- and quality-wise, to maintain their success. That’s riskier.

Om Malik on Yahoo 

Om Malik:

And forget the products — so far Yahoo has been unable to attract top quality talent to the company. Not one 20-something I have talked to in the past six months has wistfully talked about working for Yahoo. And even those who have joined Yahoo from Google are joining the company thanks to mega-million dollar contracts, not because they want to work there. When Yahoo becomes the desired job-spot for a fresh, new tech tinkerer — that will be the time I will lighten up on Yahoo.

Shutterstock 

My thanks to Shutterstock for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed. Shutterstock has over 27 million stock photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos. It’s incredible, and growing by 10,000 images every day. Shutterstock’s entire library of royalty-free images are available by subscription and a la carte.

Visitors can browse the entire library for free, and Shutterstock has a great app for iPhone and the iPad.