Apple Death Knell #60: Microsoft Will Beat Apple (& Google)

Apple Death Knell #60There was a two or three year period where it seemed like people who would talk smack about Apple were few and far between. That age is over, however, and the Apple-haters today are seemingly as loud and plentiful as they were a decade and more ago. With that there is bound to be an uptick in Apple Death Knells.

Hooray?

Oh, sure, it makes for some fun, but jeepers...

Anyway, today I bring you Apple Death Knell #60, from one Charles Sizemore, writing for Forbes. For that esteemed publication, Mr. Sizemore wrote that, "In a War of Attrition, Microsoft Will Beat Apple."

And lest you think this was a hit-whoring editor putting a nasty spin on an otherwise unfeisty editorial, think again. While Mr. Sizemore may have been light on reasoning or facts, he was definitely feisty. To wit:

Apple launched the first offensive in the smartphone and tablet wars, but in a long-term war of attrition it is doomed to lose for the same reasons that it lost the original PC war. Apple has always maintained a closed ecosystem and insists on making its own hardware and software. Steve Jobs’ pigheadedness is the reason why it was the Wintel platform and not the Mac that came to dominate the desktop and laptop markets.

It’s all happening again. Apple again jumped out to a huge lead, but it will lose the war in the end.

Apple will lose the war in the end! And to Microsoft, no less! Oh, quake ye, in the footwear of your personal preference, because the almighty Microsoft is at last on the offensive! And lo, the Big Redmond is led by no less a giant than Steve "I-don't-think-anyone-has-done-a-[tablet]-that-I-see-customers-wanting" Ballmer!

And what is Mr. Sizemore's reasoning?

SILENCE! Ask no questions! It is writ on stone! Microsoft shall win, and thus will it be!

No, seriously, he didn't offer any reasoning. He merely said that Mr. Softy is going to win because Mr. Softy always wins. We've seen this kind of specious reasoning before, but Mr. Sizemore ups the ante by also pronouncing that Microsoft is going to beat Google's Android, too.

And what about Google? I like Google and I personally use an Android phone. But I believe that in a long war it is Microsoft that will win.

Come on, man, now you're making me feel bad for picking on you, because that's some stupid $%#@.

On this front he does offer some reasons. He questions Google's commitment to Android—and to be fair, that is a legit concern—and touted Microsoft's know-how when it comes to corporate IT departments.

"Corporate IT departments are comfortable with Microsoft products to a degree that they will never be with Google or Apple," he said, shortly before 2005 knocked on his door and demanded its reality back.

Microsoft might make some inroads into smartphones with Windows Phone 8 and its successors, and it might sell a few Surfacii, but I personally think Microsoft has approached mobile with its head up its desktop past, especially when it comes to tablets.

There is one thing that Microsoft will not do, however, and that is "beat" both Google and Apple.