
Goldman downgrades Microsoft, blames iPad - lotusleaf1987
http://www.asymco.com/2010/10/04/goldman-downgrades-microsoft-blames-ipad/
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Groxx
145 words[1] of blogspam. Article it links to:
[http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/10/goldman_downgrades_...](http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/10/goldman_downgrades_microsoft_says_change_in_cource.html)

[1]: from wc -w of copy/paste of the post.

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jscore
Do people trust Goldman? To me it's nothing more than a rigged casino.

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m0nastic
The thing I don't understand is...why change the recommendation now?

I don't honestly believe that tablets (which is presently a euphemism for
iPad) effect PC sales all that much. If every single person who buys an iPad
was otherwise going to buy a Windows Laptop, it still represents a fraction of
the number of people who are buying PC's.

I don't doubt that PC sales might be flattening, but I think it's curious to
blame that on the iPad.

I don't think Goldman has the foresight to lower it's recommendation on
Microsoft for the future potential of tablets (which could very well end up
playing out with Microsoft finally adopting a winning strategy, or fizzle out
entirely); so why else?

Microsoft's mobile strategy? Which has been a punchline for several years, but
is finally looking to at least have the potential for some light at the end of
the tunnel. So why the sudden change of heart?

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teyc
Until now, it has been generally assumed that WinTel is insurmountable,
because of Metcalfe's Law; established software base. Therefore, MS will
always continue to reap from the general growth in computer use.

The iPad showed that a new class of computers, framed as limited function
devices can successfully establish a beachhead in the enterprise, challenging
Microsoft's hegemony without having to run Microsoft software. Apple has also
succeeded into cultivating a thriving ecosystem of Apple developers.

At this stage, all bets are off, and Microsoft has never been so insecure or
vulnerable since its early days.

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code_duck
Microsoft hasn't even caught up to the iPhone, much less the iPad. It seems
like their cycle includes floundering for several years in between getting
important products released.

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jakarta
The thing to keep in mind is that the recommendations by sell side analysts
are often very focused on the short term. They are actually pretty bad at
telling you where the stock price will actually go -- but the more senior
analysts are wonderful as experts on industry-wide trends.

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jcnnghm
At first I didn't really think this was smart because they are very different
markets and devices. But then I started thinking, and within 6 years I think
I'll have an iPhone with 8 GB of memory, a 2ghz quad-core processor, and 256GB
of flash storage. In that case, I don't see why I wouldn't dock that and use
full-blown OS X on the desktop, as long as the dock has integrated graphics
hardware. I doubt the analysts are thinking that far out, but I'd wager that's
where things are going.

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tzs
The article that blog cites doesn't say anything about iPad.

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brlewis
"notebook cannibalization from tablets"

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earl
I don't know where I read this, but it does seem like MS got so obsessed with
Google and the online advertising market that they sort of forgot about their
core markets. Where I would call making good software that runs on devices a
core market. Hence they utterly missed the iphone and ipad markets. Because
really, those markets where theirs to lose.

I wonder if this is just a symptom of a complete lack of imagination in the
executive offices at MSFT? It does seem like going after online advertising
was just flailing around looking for a market big enough to be relevant to
their revenues.

