Is Microsoft Going to Be the Next RIMM?

By Evan Niu (TMFNewCow) | More Articles
January 18, 2012 | Comments (7)

The following video is part of our "Motley Fool Conversations" series, in which technology editor/analyst Andrew Tonner and technology analyst Evan Niu discuss topics around the investing world.

Going into the year, we see the market for mobile software clearly dominated by two companies -- Apple and Google -- with Research In Motion trailing as a distant third. Recently at the Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft unveiled its most serious attempt yet as a legitimate challenger. Two of the Motley Fool's technology analysts sit down to see whether Mr. Softy's latest offering stands a chance in this booming tech space, or whether it also seems poised to head the way of RIMM.

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The Steve Jobs Betrayal
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Evan Niu and Andrew Tonner have no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend, and The Motley Fool owns shares of, Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Read/Post Comments (7) | Recommend This Article (2)

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Report this Comment On January 18, 2012, at 6:22 PM, InfoThatHelp wrote:

Most Fortune 500 companies have ditched the IBM mainframe applications and hardware in favor of SAP and Oracle business suites running on top of Windows, Linux, HP or AIX operating systems on IBM, HP, or Dell servers with Oracle, SQLServers, or DB2 databases. Windows Server OS is the predominant operating system so Micosoft is not going anywhere unless SAP and Oracle develop their business suites on OSX also. Windows 7 and above continue to be the dominant UI for enterprise apps running everything from native enterprise apps to portal interface, and connectivity as well as enterprise SOA web service client. The area I see Apple having a deep impact is the SOA consumption using the 6th Generation Siri NL (natural language) interface which would usher in a new programming paradigm using human speech allowing a much higher level of abstraction. Current interface use screens and page layouts reacting to keyboard and mouse events, the human speech IO allows new paradigms such as multiple concurrent inputs and highly intelligent behavior free from primitive function codes and commands. Screen navigations would be athing of the past as well all those 'skins' which characterize fragmentations on expensive and bothersome UI elements.
Report this Comment On January 18, 2012, at 6:53 PM, InfoThatHelp wrote:

Apple Siri is the redefinition of the AI applying natural language capability to the iPhone 4s, and subsequent iPhones and iOS devices which obsolete the use of touchscreens, keyboards, and pointing devices such as mouse. Human native language is by far the most natural way to communicate and every human being is endowed with the speech capability (except the muses).
Apple's Siri amounts to the 6th Generation Project which has a profound impact on computing as we know it.
Report this Comment On January 18, 2012, at 6:55 PM, InfoThatHelp wrote:

Will Microsoft enter the 6th Generation Project started by Apple Siri? That's the question. Kinect is not 6th Generation Project.
Report this Comment On January 18, 2012, at 7:06 PM, InfoThatHelp wrote:

SAP's biggest lab is in China. Currently the WebDynpro ABAP (WebDynpro for Java is dead) elements and events are based on mouse events. The entire presentation is visually controlled, not semantically driven. SAP's Presentation tier now faces extinction. Reporting is also changing from visual to conversational which is a lot closer to the semantics rather than visual interpretations.
Interesting times ahead. Instead of 'what do you see?', we will asking 'what do you mean?'.
Report this Comment On January 18, 2012, at 7:16 PM, InfoThatHelp wrote:

In short, Microsoft is so far more entrenched, strategically important, dominant, growing, advanced, well managed, talented, richer in cash, bigger in market capital, than Research In Motion to ever be in Research In Motion's immediately dire situation. In fact, Microsoft should not even be mentioned in the same sentence with this lowly Research In Motion.
Report this Comment On January 18, 2012, at 7:39 PM, rlewis0898 wrote:

what a pitiful interview not much shared here.
Report this Comment On January 18, 2012, at 10:23 PM, TechnoSense wrote:

"Is Microsoft Going to Be the Next RIMM?" Anything could become the next anything, but if you are going to put this title, please have facts to back it up. Microsoft has been constantly coming out with competitive and innovative products in many categories of technology. Most of them have been an excellent addition to the market. The world at this point highly relies on Microsoft products, and Microsoft does an excellent job at providing consumer satisfaction. For enterprise level products, they provide exceptional technical support in all levels, which is the key point to answer your question that you have in the title of this article.

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