The sheer strategy of scheduling the Surface Dial and Surface Studio event just a day prior to Apple announcing its MacBook demonstrates that Microsoft is now more innovative and braver. The speed with which Microsoft has been surging on its path to relevance under its able leader Satya Nadella has been incredible.
New York annual event demonstrates that Microsoft is now more innovative
At the New York annual event, last Wednesday, Microsoft showed off a basket of 3D software etched into Windows 10 and the new Surface PC competing straight with iMac. Microsoft also had in store another device that was perhaps more attractive – the SurfaceDial. This comes with a dial device apart from the digital pen, touch screen, and a mouse. Manipulating an image on the screen, bringing up new colors, adjusting screen brightness or volume, or scrolling through a large document just got a lot easier with that.
With HoloLens added and the artificial intelligence from cloud-based applications on offer to developers, Microsoft has truly impressed people with its resurgent wave of innovation.
Is Apple losing steam
In contrast, Apple which held the distinction of being ‘the monarch of innovation’, presenting the iPod, iPhone, Siri and the tablet from its stable, for the first time since 2001, reported a decline in revenue. Shipments against the entire product range also shrank. An analyst was enthused to ask Tim Cook , a question that he would never have expected in his lifetime. “Was Apple now simply a follower of innovation by others”? Obviously, Cook was not very pleased, and as for the implications, one must be in the shoes of Cook to grind it in.
Not surprisingly, the Apple event triggered several tweets which in its core stated that Microsoft now leads in innovation and Apple lags behind.