Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Scapegoat to an Industry

Android has benefited from relatively light competition from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT): it is estimated that Android-driven small devices had a 52% share of the U.S. market.  There are plans to implement Android in upcoming products, including Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Glass and gaming consoles (OUYA, funded by Kickstarter, due in June 2013; Project Shield, by NVIDIA, projected to be released in Q2 2013).

The Android and Linux threat

What do the “OS Wars” mentioned above have to do with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and the decrease in PC shipments?  Only that Microsoft’s dominance in the PC market is not what it once was, and it may diminish even more.

As Android is an iteration of Linux, its development in the small-computer platform has amounted to a serious foothold for Linux in general in mainstream computing.  As it is, Linux has been gradually gaining ground as an alternative to the Windows OS – particularly Canonical Ltd.’s Ubuntu variation of Linux.  As Android’s Linux becomes more popular, a shared Linux platform with PCs would seem to become a reasonable goal; the versatility offered by an open-source OS such as Linux would seem to lend itself well to such a unified platform.

Is it unthinkable that, as Android assumes a larger share of small-computer market, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) might see Android-for-the-PC as an attainable goal? More to the point, does Microsoft dominate the computer environment as it once did?  Simply put:NO.  According to Goldman Sachs, “today the consumer computer market (1.07 billion devices) is led by Android at 42% share, followed by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at 24%, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at 20% and other vendors at 14%.”

In light of these considerations, it becomes less and less plausible to lay the demise of the PC, or the decline in the shipment of PCs, on the doorstep of Microsoft and its Windows 8.

Joseph Porter has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Google, and Microsoft.