Microsoft Will Lose a War With Apple; So Will Google

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Last week, I told subscribers to my weekly options newsletter that it was time to bail from Microsoft (MSFT).

Here's exactly what I wrote on Wed., Oct. 4:

I am close to taking the small profit and unloading MSFT. I will write about the stock this week on TheStreet, but I'm no longer bullish. If it closes below $30, I would definitely sell. That said, there's probably no reason to wait, though it might make for a nice trading stock once Windows 8 comes out and provides some news-driven artificial bumps.

My kid could have seen it coming.

On the Oct. 4, MSFT closed at $30.03. On the 5th, it finished below $30.00 (at $29.85) and it's been all downhill from there.

There's not a nicer way to say it. The stock is trash. And the company that floats it is little more than a receptacle -- the black bin, not the nice blue one for recycling or the green one for compost.

The one-trick revenue pony known as Google (GOOG) doesn't rank far behind.

Both companies will have their heads handed to them in what amounts to self-constructed "battles" and "wars" with Apple (AAPL).

As great as Apple has been, you really have to chalk up some of its success to pathetic competition. Most of the "opposition" doesn't even deserve a mention. They're akin to the high school football team that shows up to a game without enough players to field a team. They take the field and the referees just sigh and send everybody home.

Outside of Samsung, you have Microsoft and Google. While you have to call them Apple competitors, there's little reason to respect them in the process.

Consider recent developments.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently noted that his company will continue to look more like Apple. In fact, it might follow up xBox and the Surface tablet with a smartphone. He's even using the word "ecosystem" now.

Earlier this week, TheStreet's Chris Ciaccia noted reports that Microsoft intends to make Office available on iOS and Android devices.

During an All Things D interview, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt almost made me spew my morning beer out my nostrils in laughter.

Schmidt told Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher that "The Android-Apple platform fight is the defining fight in the industry today." He then called "you guys" -- you know, us peasants -- the beneficiaries, citing lower prices.

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