In his closing Windows event remarks, Nadella issued a subtle but stinging critique of Apple, positioning Microsoft as Apple's main competition for developers
‘Windows has always stood for sovereignty for creators and agency for consumers’ — At the end of a surprisingly eventful …
The VergeDieter Bohn
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft’s developer pitch fits Satya Nadella’s longer break from the company’s old Windows-first strategy. By 2017, Microsoft was already adapting to mobile’s center of gravity by extending Windows experiences to iOS and Android rather than trying to displace them.
The remarks also formalize a rivalry that related coverage had described as expanding across gaming, PCs, and AR: Apple and Microsoft’s renewed animosity now includes a direct contest for developer allegiance.
First-order effects
Microsoft publicly positions its Windows platform as the alternative to Apple for developers, using creator sovereignty and consumer agency as the differentiating message.
Apple becomes the explicit reference point for Microsoft’s Windows developer outreach rather than merely a rival in adjacent device and services markets.
Second-order effects
Developer relations becomes another competitive front alongside the areas where Apple and Microsoft were already colliding, raising the importance of platform rules and cross-platform support in their messaging.
If this framing persists, the Apple-Microsoft contest will be defined less by a single operating system and more by which platform offers developers greater control over distribution and their relationship with users.
Platform competition is shifting toward governance claims—openness, agency, and creator control—as companies seek to make developer loyalty a strategic asset across devices and services.
The trend: Microsoft is recasting its competition with Apple as a contest over developer autonomy and platform governance, not only devices or operating systems.
Windows has always stood for sovereignty for creators and agency for consumers, and with Windows 11 we have a renewed sense of Windows' role in the world. https://twitter.com/...
PLUS. Microsoft is letting developers put apps in the Microsoft Store with their own payment processors, and if they choose to do that Microsoft will take a 0% (zero percent) cut.
Satya Nadella just said “The web itself was born and grew up on Windows” NeXT begs to differ https://www.howtogeek.com/... Tech history literacy is important, people
Nadella going hard at how open Windows is to end this thing — “there is no personal computing without personal agency.” Hitting the controversies about app stores and control hard!
Microsoft refashions its Windows store to go after iPhone App Store's business model. It will take a 0% cut of transactions, or 15% if the app uses Microsoft's payments system https://www.wsj.com/...
Satya's closing Windows 11 remarks were a direct shot on Apple I like that Microsoft is pushing for more openness and inviting competitors to their system. It's much better then the Microsoft that tried & failed to create a successful closed system https://www.theverge.com/...
Microsoft taking a big swing at Apple, saying apps can use their own commerce engine and developers can keep 100% of the revenue on the Microsoft App Store.
🤔 “The web was born and grew up on Windows.” I'm pretty sure @timberners_lee didn't have a Windows PC when he created the web (it was a NeXT if memory serves). https://twitter.com/...
I wrote about the new Microsoft Store, which: * is going to be genuinely useful for the first time * is a really clever way to make devs love Windows again * throws a total wrench in the App Store antitrust wars https://www.protocol.com/...
@benthompson In case you were wodering if Nadella wanted these remarks to fly under the radar, he literally just tweeted the key part that caught my eye right after I hit publish: https://twitter.com/...
More on Satya Nadella positioning Microsoft and Windows as Apple's primary competition for developers and innovation from @backlon https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Had to transcribe Nadella's closing remarks from the Windows 11 event in full because they are REMARKABLE. He alludes to the Apple App Store, @benthompson, Arthur Schopenhauer, creators, Android apps, and more. It's SO MUCH and I have some thoughts. https://www.theverge.com/...