AAPL vs MSFT

When I bought my first Mac in February 2002, I was a blacksheep.  Nobody really bought Apple or paid much attention to it.  Microsoft was the big kid on the block, and Apple was a scrappy punk.  Times have changed.  Thanks to several big splashes over the years, Apple's market capitalization is now more than Microsoft's.

How did this happen?  Simple.  The OS wars were a red herring.  It's the hardware, stupid.  It was the iPod that saved Apple, not OS X.  But OS X was very successful in further destroying Microsoft's reputation.  Just think back to the "Get a mac" ads.  Sony has also fallen by the wayside.  Even its venerable Walkman brand is dead.

In 10 years, who will be #1?  Any thoughts?  My guess would be a firm like Samsung.

iPad magazine pricing out of touch

Wired is reporting that its iPad app sold 24,000 copies in 24 hours.  While I don't doubt this figure, I do think that the pricing for their online magazine is absurd.  They point out that at $5 each, it is the same price as the print version at a newsstand.  That is true, however a subscriber gets the same thing for $1 delivered to their house.  Given that the edition at your house can easily be lent to your friends, read in the bathroom, or used to start a fire, there's a lot more usefulness than a digital copy.  Wired needs to price this app at $1 to match their subscription price.