PCs are best for e-reading, Microsoft's Ballmer says

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by fugazied

Ballmer is more often wrong than he is right. Not an innovator, not a good business leader, just a monkey in a suit.

Ballmer on the iPhone: "The iPhone is the most expensive phone in the world" while noting that Microsoft sells "millions and millions and millions of phones a year" while "Apple sells zero."

"I'd prefer to have our software in 60 percent or 70 percent or 80 percent of [mobile phones], than I would to have 2 percent or 3 percent, which is what Apple might get," he said. And just this past September, the Microsoft headman predicted that the iPhone’s tight integration with all things Apple would cause it to "lose out" in the long run.

Ballmer's in an unenviable position. Microsoft is a publicly held company, and his biggest responsibility is maintaining and increasing shareholder value, which means supporting the price of the stock.

Microsoft got a stock price in the stratosphere by being the quintessential "growth" company, posting regular double digit revenue and profit increases. The problem Ballmer faces now is that MS is in transition to "mature" company. Mature companies throw off enormous amounts of cash, but don't have stock prices in the stratosphere.

The issue for MS is maintaining growth, and that's easier said than done. Most of the things that can run Windows and Office, do. Where will new sales come from? Unless MS can better penetrate Europe (which largely distrusts it) , and get a foothold in the Indian and Chinese markets, or have better success in other product areas like games and search, MS will have real problems.

No surprise Ballmer will knock the competition for public consumption. He has to make it appear like Microsoft is unconcerned. But the iPhone is likely the most significant new product in the US market in years, and worldwide, Symbian (now wholly owned by Nokia) dominates as smartphone OS. I'm sure Ballmer would love to see Windows Mobile on 60 - 80 percent of mobile phones, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

The cynical part of me suspects Bill Gates picked the right time to step down. He built MS to the huge company it is, and became the richest man in the world for a while in consequence. He left a winner. Steve Ballmer gets to try to keep MS there, which may just not be possible.
______
Dennis

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

All I can say is: I have yet to visit such a place...

I have. Riding in a car on a long road trip. Or an 8 hour flight to Hawaii...

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Dennis, it's a fair point. In the larger sense, the world doesn't need UMPCs. (No one needed the iPhone, either.) But it is a new form factor... and I'm sure there are those out there who don't need a desk-bound computer, think cellphones are too small and laptops are too big for their needs... yet a UMPC would fit their needs perfectly. That alone makes the device worthwhile, for somebody.

And one of those somebodies would be ME. I don't want to replace my powerful desktop, but I want to enhance it with something portable, and if that reads ebooks too, in color, and does pdf's and comics well too, well, all I can say is BONUS! I don't like reading on laptops, I've tried it. I want a tablet form factor. Cords don't bother me (every comfortable place to sit or lie down in this house has a convenient outlet), I very seldom read outside, heat doesn't bother me (on ANY front, including sterility issues, LOL - another kid would kill me), and I can read on an LCD just fine. Not that I don't adore my EZ Reader, I do. But it does, unfortunately have some limitations.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Must be nice to have enough time to polish off an entire novel in a sitting!

Try traveling up and down the country on coaches >< (Or don't, it's a pain in the ass, litterally, after having been sat on some coach seats for that long...)

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

My iPaq can do that 2-3 days in a row, no problem. I'm not bragging... just saying, let's keep the battery life thing in perspective.

Sounds good.

I'm aware that the PDAs I worked with were all 4 years or more behind cutting edge, and battery tech has improved. (The bits I've heard seem to imply that, as batteries have gotten better, they've loaded more features onto the devices so battery life hasn't improved nearly as much as it could have. But that's a separate issue.)

I'll happily grant that I don't need 2 weeks of reading life on a device; 8 hours is sufficient and 24 is more than I should ever need. (I don't go on camping trips where I expect to read notable amounts.)

What's really important is whether your device suits your needs. If you really manage to get in 3-4 hours reading a day, make sure you get a device (or set of devices) that will accommodate that. If you only manage an hour a day, you'll probably have a larger range of choices that will work for you.

Absolutely. I don't think there's ever going to be "the one perfect ebook reading device," any more than there's "one perfect computer" or "one perfect automobile"--there's enough variety in needs & preferences to support a lot of healthy competition.

I just hope the competition sorts out the real market forces soon so they can get around to better ePub display methods and real folder support.

Because even though there's no one universal best computer... they all play music CDs. They all run word processing programs. They all support spreadsheets. I'm hoping that ebook readers sort out what features they need to all have to be considered serious, and they can stop pitching those features and instead tell customers what the real trade-off choices are.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The issue for MS is maintaining growth, and that's easier said than done. Most of the things that can run Windows and Office, do. Where will new sales come from? Unless MS can better penetrate Europe (which largely distrusts it) , and get a foothold in the Indian and Chinese markets, or have better success in other product areas like games and search, MS will have real problems.

While the EU itself seems to distrust MS, its not like it actually harms sales and certainly western europe won't be a source of much growth for them either.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Crowl

While the EU itself seems to distrust MS, its not like it actually harms sales and certainly western europe won't be a source of much growth for them either.

When the distrust is such that individual governments in EU countries won't buy MS software and are trying to move to open source solutions, I'd say it hurts sales. What tends to be forgotten is that MS is oriented to institutional customers, not individual consumers, and their target customer is the Fortune 500 CIO who can sign off on a PO for a 10,000 unit Windows and Office site license with platinum support.
______
Dennis

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

What tends to be forgotten is that MS is oriented to institutional customers, not individual consumers, and their target customer is the Fortune 500 CIO who can sign off on a PO for a 10,000 unit Windows and Office site license with platinum support.

As you also pointed out, MS needs to alter that situation in order to continue to grow, and they're obviously trying to do so (witness the Zune... not that that's a great device, it just demonstrates their effort to penetrating the recreational consumer market).

Point of order: The Ballmer quote didn't actually say that "PCs are best for reading." In response to the question of whether MS would build a dedicated device, Ballmer said No, because they already make a device for reading e-books which is "the most popular device in the world": The PC. This point may be debatable, but frankly, why bother? It's very popular. And it can read e-books in lots of formats. 'Nuff said.

I think it's already been established that the PC is not necessarily the best device for reading e-books, just as we have failed to establish what device is the "best"... it is clear that "best" is in the eye of the beholder.

So, maybe we should be debating instead Ballmer's suggestion that they do not need to build a dedicated reader... does anyone think MS could do a better job with a dedicated e-book reader to further e-book reading than is being done by other readers, or by existing MS software?

Ballmer mentioned in the interview that he'd love to see a PC app allowing users to read Amazon content on the PC, and I'm in full agreement with that (especially if said content could be ported into your portable device of choice once it's in your PC). I'd also love to see OEB alternatives to the PC: Digital Editions works, but is proprietary, does not run well on older or lesser-powered devices, and presently encourages non-compliant ePub files.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Point of order: The Ballmer quote didn't actually say that "PCs are best for reading." In response to the question of whether MS would build a dedicated device, Ballmer said No, because they already make a device for reading e-books which is "the most popular device in the world": The PC. This point may be debatable, but frankly, why bother? It's very popular. And it can read e-books in lots of formats. 'Nuff said.

Huh? Does MS make the PC?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Huh? Does MS make the PC?

Nope. But the folks who do make the PCs are Microsoft's main customers.

How do most users get Windows? It's pre-installed on a PC they buy, by the manufacturer, who pays license fees to MS.

Note that this probably applies to the majority of upgrades, too. I strongly suspect the majority of users upgrade Windows by buying a whole new PC.

Microsoft's health and success is inextricably tied to that of the manufacturers, so no big surprise Ballmer should say "we". Neither side would really exist without the other.
______
Dennis

[Hellmark]

Right now, for using PDFs, PCs are better, but for just reading, not really. Only computer I ever liked reading on, was my tablet PC when I had it in slate mode (with buttons on the side for page up and down). Even still, I switched to a PDA, then a dedicated reader, because it wasn't good enough for the reading I did. Non fiction really is the only area that PC's are still better, but that's merely due to nonfiction not always lending itself well to reflow, and many still using PDFs still at 8.5"x11".

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

As you also pointed out, MS needs to alter that situation in order to continue to grow, and they're obviously trying to do so (witness the Zune... not that that's a great device, it just demonstrates their effort to penetrating the recreational consumer market).

They have to significantly penetrate the Indian and/or Chinese markets, or they have to hit a home run with something like the Zune, or both.

I'm not counting them out. The Xbox gaming division is finally starting to contribute to revenues, and they are certainly trying hard at search.

Point of order: The Ballmer quote didn't actually say that "PCs are best for reading." In response to the question of whether MS would build a dedicated device, Ballmer said No, because they already make a device for reading e-books which is "the most popular device in the world": The PC. This point may be debatable, but frankly, why bother? It's very popular. And it can read e-books in lots of formats. 'Nuff said.

Agreed, and a lot of folks do. Consider the folks who buy O'Reilly's tech books: chances are very high that they read them on a PC in one window or screen while working on the program/language/OS the book covers in another. That's not the sort of thing you normally read on a dedicated reader.

I think it's already been established that the PC is not necessarily the best device for reading e-books, just as we have failed to establish what device is the "best"... it is clear that "best" is in the eye of the beholder.

So, maybe we should be debating instead Ballmer's suggestion that they do not need to build a dedicated reader... does anyone think MS could do a better job with a dedicated e-book reader to further e-book reading than is being done by other readers, or by existing MS software?

I'm sure Microsoft could do just about anything they chose to.

But in this case, i would reduce to two questions:

1) Just what would be a better dedicated reader?

Given the disagreements here over what a reader should be/do, I don't see a clear cut answer to that question.

2) Is the market big enough to make it worth Microsoft's while to bother?

I think the answer here is a clear cut No.

Microsoft is a big company. It needs to sell a lot of what it makes to justify doing it at all. Even if Microsoft decided to build a dedicated reader, I don't think they could sell enough at a high enough price to justify the effort.

Microsoft top management is essentially conservators of other people's money. Their job is to determine where to invest corporate funds to achieve the best returns. Something like the Zune is a reasonable bet because almost everybody might get an MP3 player. Look at the contribution the iPod made to Apple's success.

A dedicated reader is far more of a niche market item. I don't see the potential return on investment being big enough to interest them.

Ballmer mentioned in the interview that he'd love to see a PC app allowing users to read Amazon content on the PC, and I'm in full agreement with that (especially if said content could be ported into your portable device of choice once it's in your PC). I'd also love to see OEB alternatives to the PC: Digital Editions works, but is proprietary, does not run well on older or lesser-powered devices, and presently encourages non-compliant ePub files.

We might see such a thing. I think it depends upon where Amazon sees long term benefits.

My own feeling is that for Amazon, it's about the books. They are already the 800lb gorilla in book retailing. eBooks are a pure win for them. They have the infrastructure already developed to let customers shop and place orders over the web. With eBooks, they get to sell product without warehousing and distribution costs. I wasn't surprised in retrospect when an app for the iPhone came out that would let users buy and read Kindle editions. The iPhone is hugely popular, and the volume of ebooks sales it would generate would more than compensate for possible lost Kindle sales because the user could use their iPhone instead.
______
Dennis

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

When the distrust is such that individual governments in EU countries won't buy MS software and are trying to move to open source solutions, I'd say it hurts sales. What tends to be forgotten is that MS is oriented to institutional customers, not individual consumers, and their target customer is the Fortune 500 CIO who can sign off on a PO for a 10,000 unit Windows and Office site license with platinum support.

They may be complaining about it, but most of them are still buying it.

[dsuden]

I posted this story to Mobileread last week, they never do anything with it. Then I posted a story today about a new LG reader with solar battery, again, no action on it. Starting to wonder if anybody's home here anymore...either that or I'm the only one interested in these stories. :-)

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Given the disagreements here over what a reader should be/do, I don't see a clear cut answer to that question.

True. The biggest mistake a manufacturer can make is to try to be all things to all people. If MS was to go this route, they would have to do their research, and try to develop a device that would appeal to their intended niche.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Microsoft is a big company. It needs to sell a lot of what it makes to justify doing it at all. Even if Microsoft decided to build a dedicated reader, I don't think they could sell enough at a high enough price to justify the effort.

...A dedicated reader is far more of a niche market item. I don't see the potential return on investment being big enough to interest them.

One of the goals of large, multi-product companies is to attempt to tie products together, through actual usage, or through brand recognition and loyalty. If MS created a dedicated reader that sync'd well with Windows, for instance, that could not only tie both products together, but one could drive sales to the other. This could make it worth MS's while.