Gates 輕敵乎?

這則新聞/評論讓我們知道Gates 所謂 software-intensive之無線電信業。

這是很有意思的議題：現在的諸戰場的軟體要求，可能都遠超過目前既有公司（AT&T和Nokia等等）之能力和負荷。那麼，什麼樣的公司最後可以/可能勝出呢？

Google與手機業等等的傳言相當多….我們靜觀其變。

Gates not Scared of Google

Wednesday, 01 August 2007

Following last week's speculation that Google would soon be launching itself headlong into the mobile industry, Bill Gates has rejected Google as a serious competitor. The world famous internet search engine is reportedly looking to enter the mobile industry with its own software and services, along with continued rumours about launching their very own handset. Bill gates, Microsoft chairman, said he wasn't worried about his 10% market share for mobile phone software, and doesn't see Google becoming a successful competitor. "How many products, of all the Google products that have been introduced, how many of them are profit-making products?" he asked. "They've introduced about 30 different products; they have one profit-making product. So, you're now making a prediction without ever seeing the software that they're going to have the world's best phone and it's going to be free?" He went on: "The phone is becoming way more software intensive. And to be able to say that there's some challenge for us in the phone market when its becoming software intensive, I don't see that." Gates, however, seems to be missing the point. A lot of it's products aren't profit making products because they're being offered for free. Innovative services such as GoogleEarth have had millions of dollars invested, yet Google hasn't looked to reclaim a penny. It would seem the Microsoft chairman also forgets that the one profitable product is Google Adsense which has steamrolled the competition including Microsoft's adCenter service. Could Bill's bravado be down to the fact that he's stepping down next year?