Microsoft Versus Apple Compare And Contrast Computer Science Essay

Microsoft Versus orchard apple tree Comp be And dividing line Computer Science Essay championship strategy is a direction, vision and objectives in terms of undertakings, in order to configure the total recourses that invest into the projects base on the markets needs and ch altogether(a) toldenging of separate competitors. by and by all, a score gondola card provide be use to value the overall performance and the next metre merchantman be draw bug out base on the evaluation. The evaluation is rough the suitability, feasibility and at last acceptability. Different caller may have homogeneous or different policies on a same situation dep breaks which way they comfort with. In this paper, Microsoft and apple descent strategy pass on be equation and contrast.Innovation is a radical or revolutionary change on doing an ordinary thing and crystalizes it opine out of the box. The process include from invention to application. Innovation screw be value added if the invent ion is triple-crown since the r compensateue and the hold market worth of certain company go away be make up signifi sanctimonyly due to the uniqueness of the harvestings. still the innovation also b atomic number 18 the risk of lost, this in because in the RD process, a lot capital been invested and may non get under angiotensin-converting enzymes skin the return so fast or even non at all if the innovation is failed. This paper include how mod orchard apple tree and Microsoft is and how the technology invented by them friend to foment the world into the next level.1.2 Purposes/ ObjectivesThe first objective of this paper is to study about the vocation strategy between the Microsoft and orchard apple tree. The second is to study about the innovation of some(prenominal) company and their contri scarceions to the technology world. As an engineer, adept must be able to catch up the technology trends, project their own assessment about the incident and be innovative enough to foresee the future of the technology world. By study history of companies, i can learn how differents graspr and the lessons from others fails.1.3 ScopeThe sample population of our re look for was coke students from Multimedia University Cyberjaya. These cytosine students were come from different faculty which included students from might of Engineering, ability of Information Technology, Faculty of Management, Faculty of originative Multimedia and last save not least FOSEE.1.4 Methods SourcesTwo methods ar utilize to complete this re hunting. The primary data ar collected through and through the questionnaire and the online researches. A thorough comparison and potpourri will be performed in the second phase research. The second phase research result will be used to provide sufficient empirical evidence and to ground truth our findings from the preliminary research. The questionnaire is as per attached in the appendices.2.0 Literature Re purvieworchard ap ple tree Background apple Inc. is a multinational smoke which based in Cupertino, California. orchard apple tree was nominateed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak in 1st of April 1976. By apple to shifted itself from the figurer perseverance to the information technology industry the coverage of business become wider, it includes computers and mobile hardw ar (desktop and laptop ad hominem computers, servers, iPhone, iPod), parcel (Mac OS X, iLife, iWork suits) and get on to the online services (Mobile me services). For to a greater extent than 34 years, Apple experienced from the rise to the halcyon age then fall back to serious lose and climb back to the stream worlds take technology company status. For the Apple community the approximately important, most powerful person ever is the current chief operating(a) officer which is the co founder Steve Jobs. He founded the company in 1976 and get fired by the chief operating officer that hired by him in 1985, then he back on 1997 a fter the acquisition of succeeding(a) Computer which is the novel company that founded by Steve been layoff by Apple. In 1997 after Steve become the interim CEO of Apple, Michael Dell founder of Dell Computers say that What would I do? I would shut the company pass and then give back the money to the shargonholders, in wait of the crowd of several thousand IT executives.1 later more than ten years which is now, Apple worth more than 4 times of the Dells market value.23 It is not difficult to spot whether Steve Jobs in Apple campus, considerably(p) look for the handicapped space in front of the Apple campus entrance. Because it is usually for him to park at on that point and sometime occupied twain handicapped car lot. If describe the Apple as big ship, the Steve will be an erratic and temperamental tribal chief. except this captain is capable to foresee and fulfill what the end users wishes and setting the trend in innovation and style. Moreover, Steve Jobs been award as most valuable CEO by Barrons, The Wall Street Journal and CEO of the Decade by Fortune magazine.45Microsoft BackgroundMicrosoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops wide direct of bundle program overlaps, gamming hardw atomic number 18 products, online services etc. But Microsoft main(prenominal)(prenominal) business and most profitable products are selling the software products much(prenominal) as operating system, office suits. In 1975, Microsoft was founded by two founders which is flyer gate and Paul Allen, and for now headquarter is locate at Washington. Microsoft was certain and sold the Beginners All-purpose Symbolic centralise Code (BASIC) interpreters for the Altair 8800 computer when it was founded. Then continue with The AppleSoft Complier (TASC) which compiles the BASIC written program to Apple machine language. By award the contract by IBM to Microsoft for the operating system in IBM upcoming PC, it yields the first r eal success for Microsoft is by delivering the Disc Operating System (DOS). Then Microsoft continues to release the impertinently operating system which named as Windows operating system that equipped with the graphical user interface (graphical user interface). From Windows 1.0 to the latest Windows 7 or Windows server 2008, Microsoft rose of small player to the giant in the software industry. Microsoft provides wide range of software to life the hardware products. Before January 2000 the chief operating officer for Microsoft is Bill Gates, but after Bill Gates stepped down and become the non executive chairman, he gradually transfer his duties to Steve Ballmer, an executive that joined Microsoft on 1980. Beside the operating system Microsoft also pee the business software, gaming hardware such as XBOX, gamming software such as Flight Simulator 2000 and other popular games for both PC and XBOX. Microsoft also tell aparticipates in the search engine, BING and provides other on line services such as Windows Live. To compete with iPod, Microsoft released their own portable media player named as Zune which offer more choices to consumers.3.0 Methods, Materials Process3.1 ParticipantsOur entire research is based on the students from MMU Cyberjaya. The objective of canvas is to collect opinion of students in MMU Cyberjaya toward business strategy and innovation of Microsoft and Apple. As such, our main criteria lie on the Faculty of Engineering (FOE), Faculty of Information Technology (FIT), Faculty of Management (FOM), Centre For Foundation Studies and Extension Education (FOSEE) and Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM). All of the students from the research sample are chosen randomly regardless of their age and sex. We targeted a research sample of 100 students.3.2 MaterialsWe started our research by development the questionnaire. The questionnaire fundamentally consists of close ended and idle ended questions. Each of the questions is special(a)ly desi gned in correspondence with the objective of the research, which is to determine the kitchen stove of both the company in students mind. The questionnaire is attached on Appendix A.3.3 ProcessThere are 5 members in our group. The different tasks on the questionnaire design and distributions have been divided evenly among the group members. Our research samples are the 100 students from every faculty. Our friends from every faculty assist us in distributing the questionnaire. Besides that, we also perform the online raft and send the link through affectionate network such as msn, email or facebook. every(prenominal) question may require more than one answer, which are the answers that come to their mind.4.0 Survey ResultsWhich company does you perceive forward?In the statistic, it shows that all heard about both companies before.Which product from Microsoft that you have used before?As show in bar map above, Windows and Office suite dominates the market, as the Internet ventur er and Windows Media Player bundle with the Windows operating system, so both of it also have 100% of usage. Windows Mobile is alone for the one who own the smart phone that use Windows Mobile as operating system which as low as 40%. The less among all is Microsoft hardware, which includes keyboard, abstract, webcam etc.Which product you think represents Microsoft the most?Pie chart above shows that when people talk about Microsoft, the image or product that relate to the company is Windows.Which product from Apple that you have used before?Most of the people have used iPod and iPhone before liken to the other Apple products. This is because of the pricy of the Mac computers even the entry level product compare to other others.Which product you think represents Apple the most?Pie chart above shows that when people talk about Apple, the image or product that relate to the company is mostly iPhone and iPod.Which company do you think is more innovative?Peoples think that Apple is mo re innovative compare to Microsoft maybe due to the image that Apple reserve refresh its products line and keep asseverate youthful products.Which company image is more mysterious or secretive?From statistic, Apple image is more secretive compare to Microsoft. This is probably due to Apple substance abuse announce current or ongoing projects compare to Microsoft makes public about what its current ongoing.Which sector do you think Microsoft monopoly?Microsoft monopoly the software market in the PC industry due to its operating system can operate in any hardware combinations.Which sector do you think Apple monopoly?Apple monopoly in digital music sector and mobile sector, many iPod and iPhone can be found easily on the street as the handheld device of many users.Usually where you get the information or parole for the products? liken both of the pie chart above, most of the people get the information of Microsoft from email promotions and social media, but for Apple, Email promoti ons and social media tactics less likely to be use with.5.0 Discussions5.1 Compare and Contrast of Business Strategies5.1.1 SecrecyAs show in graph above the different between Apple and Microsoft business strategy is its secrecy level. Nowadays the social networking platforms such as blog, facebook, twitter, etc are very famous around the world. There are companies that use these platforms to communicate with their fans, potential customers, costumers, sharing about the new business strategy, new technology, new upcoming products or get the direct respond from the public. Such as Microsoft, at that place are different formalised blog for different department, such as IEBlog or Server Team Blog. But in that location is also the official Microsoft Blog for the executives or employees to deliver the news and the perspective from Microsoft. Besides that, the Microsoft squad uses their blog to respond to the current related topics or what happenings in the industrial, such as Micro soft Cooperate ungodliness President reply the criticism of the former employee by the title Measuring Our Work by Its openhanded Impact through the blog. 6But this kind of the culture is banned in Apple. In Apple, no employees are tolerateed to share to public any tidbits about what are they currently doing. There are also no official blog for Apple. The whole Apple have is their official website to provides the details to the public. Moreover, Apple has been go throughn to deal out wrong information to their workers. According to a former employee parent that Philip Schiller, senior vice president for ecumenical product marketing, provided incorrect information about a products price or features about new products in internal meetings. By using the incorrect details, Apple then tries to track down the source of discover. For those employee that leak or accidently leak the information, they will be fired. 7Even Apple employees have no idea what are they currently working at. They just finish the task that assigned. The engineers that deal with the hardware part and the software part are separate in different instituteings in order to prevent for them to know what is the whole project was. So for Apple employees they are as surprised as public about the new product launch or products update. Basically Apple secrecy pipes paranoia. A former Apple marketing passenger car describe as below Employees working on top-secret projects must pass through a maze of certification doors, swiping their badges again and again and finally entering a numeric code to conk their offices, according to one former employee who worked in such areas. Work spaces are typically monitored by security cameras, this employee said. Some Apple workers in the most critical product-testing rooms must cover up devices with calamitous cloaks when they are working on them, and turn on a red warning light when devices are unmasked so that everyone knows to be extra-careful. 7 Besi de the unannounced new products, this rule also applies for the announced. Such as for new iPad that just launch and will be available in Apple Store on 3rd of April, but even few days before launch, Apple Store employees form concierge to four-in-hand havent seen it yet. The most kindle part is the geniuses that in charge of the problems solving and fixing dont know how to top and fix the potential problems yet.8 wherefore secrecy is so important in Apple business strategy? It is because this approach has been critical to success, it will allowing Apple to attack the market share of other companies before for their competitors conscious about it. Usually if Steve found that if there are some breakage or potential products in the sectors, they will find the possibilities to touch base it or create it out. Such as iPhone, it takes more than three years for Apple to figuring out how to product it should be, so that was three years ahead of their rivals. So when their rivals try to create some product to fight back, maybe Apple has brought their existing product into another(prenominal) level. This make Apple in hunt of the sectors and their rivals keep catching up at behind.Since Apple image is about the secrecy, before any events that held by Apple, there are sure many rumors going on the tech website or media. But there sure will have leaks about the new product information. A former Apple manager describe that these sorts of leaks are handed down from senior Apple executives to the employees to contact major news or website outlets. The communication is always done in person or on the phone and never by e-mail. This is because if theres ever any dispute about what transpired, theres no physical evidence to prove the false of distributively troupes version of the story.9 So it is all about the business or marketing tactics. By control leaks, Apple will know who the public will respond to their new products and it is a free method to survey and free met hod to advertise the potential new products.All of the rumors or lawsuits that are related to Apple company well shown in their stock (AAPL) that listed on Nasdaq. The stock price will go high before there are any events and if the new product release meets the public expectation the stock price will be rise again or remain same. But if out of expectation, the price will be drop. So as the lawsuits, by winning the lawsuit will tending to push up the stock.5.1.2 Open door versus closed doorThe second strategy related to secrecy is about the open door versus closed door. Since the day Microsoft collaborate with IBM when IBM approach Microsoft for needing the operating system for their new to-be-announced PC. The in the flesh(predicate) computer (PC) that creates by the IBM is open architecture, which means that peripheral components and compatible software can be produce and sell by other manufacturers without purchasing licenses. Soon there comes other manufactures to reverse engi neered the PC which so call the IBM PC compatible. As the success of the IBM PC lead the PC become the standard in the industry and lead many of the other companies to start to clone it. Due to the popularity of the IBM PC, it helps to push to Microsoft to world because all of the clone will use the Microsoft DOS operating system.After more than 30 years of evolution, instantly there are full of computer company such as Dell, Asus, Acer, etc which is PC maker and seller. It is not too over to say that each of the PC that they sold come with the pre-install Windows operating system that developed by Microsoft. The statistics showed that more than 90% of the operating system market shares are own by Microsoft.10 How Microsoft reach so far? The answer is collaboration with the hardware manufactures and with software programmer. Microsoft released the Application Programming Interface (API) privileged the operating system for the use of the programmer. Since the PC is very popular and due to the popularity and high demand, so there are a lots of programs which is wrote to be work in Windows operating system. Back to computer manufacture, each PC that preinstall with the Windows operating system must be genuine. The charge for the operating system at the end will be pay by the end users. From there Microsoft get a lot of income from the licenses. Because of the ask of collaboration with different parties, Microsoft need to release their road map or preview of the new software in advance order to let or encourage or make sure the manufactures to build their offerings around Microsoft new systems. Sure, this will only let Microsoft a stranglehold on the software market.For Apple, it is alone different. Apple hardware is a close architecture, so only Apple proprietary software can match with proprietary hardware. It is totally black box operations. Mac OS X is just for Apple Mac computers, iPhone OS just for Apple iPhone or iPod. Apple have different keyboard layo ut, different connective for video output. By using iPod or iPhone, the only software that you can sync with is by using iTunes. Unlike Windows mobile operating system or Windows operating system that is designed to work on any participating computer or handset. So there is totally no openness and interoperability in Apple compare to Microsoft. Due to that close looped and high prices, less people which the Mac OS X market share less than 5% and the software that operable on the Mac OS X is quite limited and the driver for peripherals hardware that work with Mac OS X also limited. But on the other hand, because of the ecosystem, Apple can design the combination of hardware and software that work well together, this can ensure that whole system is running smoothly and to enhance the user experience which others cant deliver. The advantage for Apple is they only write the software for their own hardware so there are fewer problems, for Microsoft, as they need to support all of the va riant hardware then it run on, so there will be more problems to deal with.5.1.3 How to reach customersThe third point is how the both company reach their customers. Usually there are three ways to reach the customers, first is through the official online line of descent, secondly is directly through the concept inventory and the last and the most important method is through advertisement. The Microsoft online line aka Microsoft Marketplace offers all the latest products from Microsoft and computer or hardware by third party manufactures. It provides all the specifications, minimum requirements, pricing, comparison between products and other details that will be need by the secureers. User can select the products and add into cart then directly pay by deferred payment card to get the products. Unfortunately, Microsoft Marketplace just available to selected countries only which exclude Malaysia. Beside for the software for computer, Microsoft also provides the software for smart phone. For the Windows mobile platform there is a special store or platform for users to view and download the applications, games that create by third party developer which name as Windows marketplace for mobile.The virtual store is not enough to interact with users. So why the concept store is so important? It is because there are demands for users to physically experience the stuff, to introduce to the new technology and get the direct help from the professionals. So it leads to opening of the official concept store. For Microsoft, they have total two Microsoft store at United States, both open in 2009. Microsoft store is target to improve the customers retail purchase experience for Microsoft products, provide opinions and help consumers to make decisions with their PC and software purchases. The store provide wide variety of products, it offers both hardware and software that create by Microsoft such as Microsoft windows, Microsoft office, Xbox 360, Zune potable media player e tc. It also offers the personal computers that construct by third parties manufactures such as HP, IBM, Dell etc. Most of the PC peripherals and accessories can be found in the store too. For both hardware part and software part, customers can have a test drive at there about all the new technologies or functions that provide by Microsoft for new software and entertain their self with Xbox 360 or the Zune. There is also a corner named as Answer bar which duty by the Microsoft professional with the meaning of helps to answer and troubleshoot the problems about Microsoft products. Beside the averageal customer service, they also provide the after sales service at there. For the faulty Microsoft hardware can be send to there for the re meet. Class sessions also provided to introduce to the new users to highlight all the basic and new functions.For Apple, same as Microsoft, they have both the online store and the concept store so call Apple Store. But both the Apple online store and co ncept store are quite different with the Microsoft. For Microsoft the main idea is for promote and introduce their product to the public and not sales. This is because personal computer can buy from the manufacture and maybe the manufacture provides more promotions or offers. For the software part, most of them are bundle with the new computers. But this is totally different for Apple. For Apple, all the software and hardware are custom by themselves. So they are the only one who provides the service or warranty. All the faulty hardware which cant solve by the authorized distributor is send back to Apple. For Microsoft, they just provide online store for few countries, but for Apple, they provide the online store for most of the country in the world which all the price are viewing in the local currency. For Apple online store, they provide both the hardware and software from themselves and third party too. The special about the Apple online store is they provide the education disco unt for both the students and lectures. The education prices are bring down than market price, so that it can encourage the students or lectures to switch to the Apple ecosystem more affordable. As mention above, Apple website is the only way to get the new information about the Apple. So as the online store, it is the only way to get information about the updates or refresh of the current Apple product lines. When the online store is down, there are only two possibilities, one is for maintenance and another is for product update. Beside the online store, there are other stores such as Apps Store which provide the applications for the ipod touch, iphone and ipad by third parties. Itunes store to sell the music, video, ringtone, romp to both the mac and windows users.For Apple concept store, there are totally 286 stores in worldwide. Inside the store provide all the product range from Apple. In order to run the store effectively and achieve high customers stratifications, all the s taff are been well trained for specific tasks. The level of readying depends on the post that currently holds. primary is store manager that in charge of whole team members, evaluate their performance and manage the profitability. Second is concierge/ specialist, there are quite a numbers of specialist such as Inventory Control, Back of House and Personal Shopping Specialist. For Personal Shopping Specialist they performs assort customer service tasks, such as conduct product sales and answers enquires about Apple products and their main task is to deliver unique shopping experience to customers . Third is Creative which been well trained to provides training or advice, teach about all Apples software and pro applications to customers. As Apple very focus about the customer service and from the statistic of Customer Service Champs 2010 that done from the BusinessWeek magazine, Apple get 3rd swan which is highest among all the computer manufacture. Last but not least, there is a lso Apple Genius that serves at the Genius Bar to diagnoses and identifies the possible problems, perform repairing, replacement services for the products that under recall or infallible and provide technical support to Apple users. To attract the visitors to Apple store, Apple had made many affords. star of it is the architecture and interior design. In a results, numerous architectural awards been award to its store designs, so thats make it Apple Store so unique to each others such as the Apple Store at the 5th Avenue of New York. It is the underground store which its entrance is a big glass cube. The most unique and eyes catching interior design is the glass staircase that leads to the underground store. Beside that the glass staircase was awarded design pattern in 2002.11For the advertising part, both companies almost perform same to each other. First is by sending email. This is because it is a most cost effective way. Usually the email will introduce either the new product s or the promotion of the current products. By sending the email or newssheet to the subscriber, it can create the awareness of the customers towards the advertisement, help to create loyal customers and serve as a reminder. by means of the email newsletters that send, the direct sales can be increase and will lead to increase the income.Nowadays, the usages of the search engines are part of the daily life. Just key the website or information that wishes to look for at the search engine, and you will get the page that require. So advertising through the search engine is the way to do so. Search engine company provide paid search advertising at the top of the all the results when the keywords are matched. This allow interested visitor to browse the details, increase the business revenue and abase outgo limit.For Apple, for the major products such as iPod, iPhone and iPad, or when there are major improvements over old products, they will publish the advertisement video to introduc e the features or the uniqueness of the products. Besides that, the most famous Apple advertisement is the Get a Mac, which use to compare between the PC and Mac computer. To compete with the advertisement, Microsoft creates Im PC advertisements which focus on the price of PC which is cheaper over Mac computers.Another strategy which use by Microsoft and later follow by Apple is use the strength of social media. By using social media, the end users or customers will help to spread out the information which is product advertising. The reviews by the professionals or pioneers are post at the Facebook or Youtube to introduce their products. Communicate with the users are important for Microsoft strategy, so they create blogs, discussion groups on forum or social networking website such as Facebook or even chitter to provide the frequent information updates about new products and use the platform as the brand ambassador to increase to adoption rate of new products. From listening the f eedback rather than self defend can help Microsoft to improve and create better products. As discussed above, the suggestions or opinions from users act as a feedback look and make a whole close loop ecosystem. For Apple, there are two official Facebook page, one for iTunes and another for Apps Store. The content include introduce the new apps or song and direct link to the store for further purchasing, which is another way to promote the items. Overall, the social media can be effective tool for marketing, it also allow user to voice their opinions and suggestions and participate in the product development cycle, which result better products for better future. 125.2 Compare and Contrast of Innovations5.2.1 Apple InnovationsAccording to the survey percent of people thinks that Apple is more innovative. It is a norm where when discuss about innovation, most computer and electronics consumers will focus and chasing for Apple, and that why Forbes Magazine ranked Apple in 1st place for most admired company for innovation. The formula for Apple is keep increase the spending for RD, keep innovate, keep launch the new products or updates and lastly keep the competitors far behind. Apple do innovate quite a number of technologies, but it is surprise that in many cases Apple do help to push the technologies in the mainstream but Apple did not invent the core technologies. Steve jobs said that You cant ask people what they want next, they wont know, they cant tell you what they want next, they just know when they see it and feel that it gonna be right things. First of all is graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI was introduced by Apple in 1984 named as Mac OS pairing with its Apple Lisa computer and changes the computer industry since ever. Before the introduction of GUI to public, all the personal computers were power by dot ground substance reign line operating system, to execute any command, user need to type in the command and the interaction and it is not user friendly at all. In the truth is the GUI generally impute to bolt because the idea is get from Xerox when Steve Jobs and other Apple executives visit the Xerox research come to in 1979. On the other hand, Apple do help to innovate for GUI, Apple include the take out and drop, double click, menu bar at top of the screen with pull down menu. All the go follow by Microsoft with release Windows 1.0 in late 1985. 13 With the introduced of GUI in Mac OS, Apple introduced the mouse to be the pointer for its GUI. Apple did not invent the mouse, the mouse was invent by Douglas Engelbart and ship with Xerox workstations in 1981. As a result of population, nowadays all the desktop computer must pair with a keyboard and mouse. 14The successor for Apple Lisa is Apple Macintosh. It is the first commercially successful all in one personal computer feature with GUI and mouse. All in one computer not the airplane pilot idea from Apple as older 8 bit computers such as Commodore PET and Kaypro use this concept first. 15 After Steve Jobs back in 1997, he announced iMac in 1998 which is all in one computer which brightly colored transparent casing for monitor, keyboard and mouse. This is the 1st computer for Apple to return its profitability after return if Steve. Since then iMac been categorized as mid range price computer and the newest of iMac feature 21.5 and 27 inch LCD screen. As the uniqueness and the all in one pc reduce the space consumption, nowadays other manufacture such as NEC, LENOVO, DELL release their own all in one pc with Windows OS to grab the market share of all in one pc.Another story for introduction of iMac in 1998 is abandoning old technology such as remove the lax disk drive. The remove of floppy was