Paul Krugman, commentando la (felice) dipartita di Ballmer dalle scene, dice una cosa giusta: mentre il monopolio di Microsoft è durato decenni ed è stato per lungo tempo inattaccabile, quello di Apple nel mercato mobile — iPhone e iPad — è meno solido perché non si basa sull’utenza (si sceglieva Windows perché gli amici, i colleghi e tutti quanti avevano Windows), ma sulla qualità:
People used Windows because other people used Windows. […] Let’s not forget that Microsoft is actually an incredible success story — it maintained its PC lock for decades, and in fact still retains that lock today; it’s just that the market is changing. My casual impression is that Apple’s lock isn’t nearly as secure, in part because it’s relying on the loyalty of individual customers — in contrast to Microsoft, which was largely relying on the loyalty of corporate IT managers, who are inherently more conservative.
