Apple and Microsoft - Cheating the Consumers - Literature review Example

Apple Vs Microsoft Introduction Microsoft and Apple are two of the most reputed American companies in the world which have diversified products. While Microsoft is mainly focusing on operating system market, Apple has more diverse product folios like Macintosh operating system, computers, mobile phones, ipods, ipads, etc. These two companies are engaged in fierce battle for supremacy not only in American market, but across the world as well. According to Chronicle Staff Writer, Ryan Kim (2010), Apple Inc, pushed Microsoft behind and attained second spot in the list of most valuable companies in United States after Exxon Mobil, as far as market capitalization is concerned. More over it became the most valued technology company in the world at present (Kim). The battle is going on as both of the companies are trying to capture the market with the introduction of new products. Apple has recently introduced iphones whereas Microsoft introduced their latest operating system Windows 7. All these products entered the market with exaggerated claims. Many people believe that all these tactics and claims are not for the benefits of the customers, but to capture increased market share. This paper critically evaluates the claims and strategies of these companies for capturing the market. Apple Vs Microsoft The rivalry between Apple and Microsoft over operating system market has been started in the 1990’s. Apple has introduced the Macintosh OS in response to Microsoft’s Windows in the 90’s. Both the companies are engaged in a fierce battle over the control of operating system market since then. Many modified versions of these products were entered the market with exaggerated claims in the subsequent years. The first thing we all know is that during 1995-97, Apple lost control of the business market. Back when the character of the competition between Apple and Microsoft was simply the OS, Apple felt that it had the upper hand. But as times changed and the business market matured in its use of computers, IT managers needed something Apple wasnt able to supply: a capable back office system with authentication and management tools. Apple appeared to be ambivalent about this loss of the business market, and a series of poor CEOs failed to understand the evolution of business requirements and failed to bring clarity to Apples vision (Martellaro) Microsoft has utilized this opportunity very well and came up with a series of products like Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista etc. All these products were proclaimed as entirely new products. But consumers have realized that the claims of Microsoft were not 100% true. Microsoft has recently introduced Windows 7 operating system in the market and claimed that all the bugs and problems caused to the Vista users were rectified in their new Windows 7 operating system. I have purchased two copies of Windows 7 one for my desktop and another for my laptop. Even though my laptop is working well with Window7, my desktop is creating too much problems with Windows 7. While I try to shut down my desktop, it restarts again and again showing some error messages related to blue screen. I tried to contact Microsoft, but just for speaking to their service advisor, they are asking me to pay around $ 50. My computer worked fine with XP and Vista and I thought Windows 7 would work even better. I personally feel that some of the claims put forward by Microsoft in favor of Windows 7 are exaggerated. Apart from some simple modifications in appearance, I don’t think Microsoft did any substantial change in this OS compared to Vista. The frequent release of modified operating systems is a business strategy adopted by Microsoft to exploit the customers rather than offer any increased utility to the customers. The story is not much different with Apple also. Apple has introduced many products recently like iphones, ipads and ipods; all have some kind of defects. ipads and iphones were introduced without 3G facilities initially and then incorporated such facilities after a few months. Apple could have incorporated these facilities even in the initial versions itself. But as a business strategy to exploit customers, Apple delayed the introduction of 3G facilities in its products. Most of the new products released by Apple and Microsoft are mere modifications of the existing products. When Microsoft introduced Windows 7, they claimed that it is an entirely new product. But the users now realized that the claims of Microsoft were fluke. Apple is also not much different publishing false claims and cheating the customers. In short, both the companies are taking similar strategies in cheating the customers with exaggerated claims with respect to their modified products. Even though these companies are talking too much about the relationship building with the customers, they did nothing to justify such claims. They know very well that there are not many options left for the consumers as they have some kind of monopoly in the software and consumer electronic market. Microsoft is enjoying an absolute monopoly in OS market, and Apple also has some kind of monopoly in the consumer electronic product market. In short, these companies are not much concerned about the customer satisfaction; they are concentrating more profit making. In fact the authorities should take necessary actions to prevent the customers from getting cheated again and again as these companies are selling same product with slight modifications over and over. The customers should have the option of money back guarantee if they were not satisfied with the product. The authorities should put some kind of laws in place to avoid over exploitation of the consumers. Lucy Barrett (2009) in her article Microsoft and Apple are harnessing the power of you written on guiardian.co.uk questioned the advertising strategies of Apple and Microsoft. In her opinion advertising should allow the consumer to think about what they are going to purchase rather than misleading them with some glorified captions. She has ridiculed the "Im a PC" ads of Microsoft and similar misleading ads of Apple. Moreover, if a customer spends from £79 up to £229 on an upgrade to his operating system, he wants to see good reasons why that would be beneficial (Barrett). In short, both Apple and Microsoft are trying to play with the weak points of the customers. They know the advertisements targeting the emotions of the customer may have more power than the conventional advertisements. The absence of a genuine open source solution seems to be the major reason why Apple and Microsoft are successful in cheating the consumers without many problems. The Linux OS when it entered the market, created loot of hope for the customers. But it failed to live up to the expectations of the customers. The introduction of a free operating system with reasonable facilities may stop further exploitation by Apple and Microsoft. Strong challenges will force them to introduce entirely new products with reasonable facilities in the market rather than cheating the customers with modified products. Conclusions Apple and Microsoft are currently cheating the consumers with modified products rather than new products. Exaggerated and misleading advertisements extensively used by both the companies to market their products successfully in the market. The absence of strong competition or lack of options available to the consumers helped these companies immensely in continuing their unethical activities. The authorities should make some changes in the existing laws to prevent these companies from selling the modified products instead of new products using misleading ads. Works Cited 1. Barrett, Lucy. 2009. “Microsoft and Apple are Harnessing the Power of You”. Accessed on 14 July 2010 from 2. Kim, Ryan. (2010) “Apple Passes Microsoft As Top Tech Company”. Accessed on 14 July 2010 from 3. Martellaro, John. 2006. “Hidden Dimensions -- Apples focus vs. Vista Vision”. Accessed on 14 July 2010 from Read More