There are several high-profile rivalries in the tech world — XBox vs PlayStation, iOS vs Android and so on. But arguably the most significant battle is still being fought between the oldest rivals – Apple and Microsoft.
Both the companies have their forte – Microsoft has volumes, and Apple has profit margins. While Microsoft is making a big push to step on Apple’s toes by offering free software and powerful tablets, Apple has responded by taking away the numbers advantage from Microsoft in key markets in 2015.
Punch 1: iOS Shipments Overtake Windows PCs
Microsoft takes a lot of pride in their vast number of Windows users, which have remained untouched so far. However, we are now living in the post-PC era where the mobile devices market is growing at an astronomical pace. On the other hand, demand for computers is slowing down steadily. As a result, for the first time ever, there are more devices in the world running iOS than there are PCs running Windows. Just let it sink in for a moment!
Punch 2: PC Sales Declined, Mac Sales Increased
Last year, Apple saw an increase of roughly 6 percent in Mac shipments. In the entire PC industry that is declining rapidly, Mac was the only product that saw an increase in sales!
We do not know what sorcery Apple is using to create this counter-intuitive sales figures. Maybe it’s the smartness with which it has managed to keep iOS and Mac OS interlinked yet separate. We, for one, can confirm that we believe that a full-fledged laptop is essential to our workflow, and being iOS users, MacBook is the obvious choice for us.
It must be noted that PC manufacturers like Lenovo, HP and Dell still sell far more computers than Apple. Industry leader Lenovo shipped 57 million PCs last year; estimates for Apple are just under 21 million. But the worrying thing for these companies is that their sales are dipping year over year while Apple is somehow managing to keep its graph upwards.
The fight Continues …
Don’t think that these blows will knock the life out of Microsoft. If anything, expect them to come back stronger. The arena may be shifting from Microsoft’s home turf (PCs) to Apple’s backyard (mobile devices and apps), but the old warriors will continue to push each other for years to come. We’ll be at ringside, with popcorn and Coke, watching excitedly !!
