Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen?

Re:Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? by scarface74 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @10:52AM (#18561050)

They tried that with universal apps. No one was going to invest money on good games without the users being there and no users were going to buy the phone without the apps.

Even if Windows Phone had Nintendo level third place success, what would it have gained them? No company besides Apple and to a lesser extent Samsung make any real money on phones. I doubt the phone division even makes any really money, Samsung makes most of its mobile money from the parts it sells.

Google doesn’t even make that much from Android. They make some from Google Play Services and advertising but they also pay Apple billions a year to be the default search engine for iOS.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? by RandallBrown on Thursday November 29, 2018 @11:49AM (#18561579)

Back in 2010, when Windows Phone first launched, the smartphone market was a very different place.

Microsoft could have leveraged the popularity of Xbox to market their phone as a mobile gaming system and I think that would have been hugely popular.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? by tracker1 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @01:15PM (#18562368)

They could have branded with both, effectively... "Windows Phone" for Business; "XBox Phone" for Personal Use .. same OS and tools under the covers. Developers could target both, and users would just get their skin version on top of the OS.

XBox Phone would have sign in for an XBox account... Windows Phone would tether to an exposed AD/SSO login system for business use.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? by scarface74 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @01:08PM (#18562283)

Back in 2010, Microsoft had sold 40 million Xboxes in total (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-360-sales-top-40-mill...).

Apple sold that many iPhones a year back then. Of course now, Apple sells that many in a bad quarter.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? by bryanlarsen on Thursday November 29, 2018 @11:04AM (#18561165)

Google likely makes well over $10 billion a year from Android. Only when comparing against iPhone revenue or Google's own advertising revenue does it look small.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? by scarface74 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @11:14AM (#18561262)

This is the best number I could find from the Oracle vs google lawsuit. Google didn’t dispute the number.

Thanks to a lawyer, we know now that Google has made $31 billion in revenue and $22 billion in profit from its Android operating system....

That’s over Android’s entire existence.

But if the $31 billion total is correct, Google has earned less money from Android throughout its existence than Apple earned from iPhone sales in fourth quarter of 2015, when it brought in $32.2 billion in revenue.

https://www.theverge.com/2016/1/21/10810834/android-generate...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? by sujinge9 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @11:33AM (#18561433)

That's a pretty apple to oranges comparison. iPhone sales is selling physical hardware which obviously comes with a much higher total cost then just software. A much better comparison would be from how much Apple earns from it's app store and developer fees.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? by scarface74 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @01:01PM (#18562217)

In the context of how much Microsoft could have made if it had come in as a successful third place, if Google can make only $31 billion over 10 years, how much could MS make in third place?

But to answer your question 11.5 billion last year

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2018/01/06/apples-ap...

[ Parent | on HN ]