4 ms·
Gruber is right about Microsoft failing at phones and that there is not much they can do about it. However, I don't think Ballmer is in denial about that. It w
by ssp 16y ago
Gruber is right about Microsoft failing at phones and that there is not much they can do about it. However, I don't think Ballmer is in denial about that.
It was and is obvious that at some point all phones will be what we call smartphones now. I think Ballmer's point is that even when that happens, the iPhone will not be able to sustain its 16%. It will still have insignificant market share.
Android will not, though. It might get "60 percent or 70 percent or 80 percent", and that's the share that Ballmer would have preferred run Windows.
So yes, I think Ballmer asked the right question and got the right answer. He just doesn't have any way to respond to Android.
- timr 16y ago"I think Ballmer asked the right question and got the right answer. He just doesn't have any way to respond to Android." Of course he does: he can give away the new smartphone OS. It's not as if Microsoft has never given away software to win market share.
- darrenkopp 16y agoexactly. and he can give away windows os on mobile because they are getting paid for android os on mobile.
- clark-kent 16y agoHe would also have to make it open source with no strings attached then pray the community will adopt it.
- DrSprout 16y agoHe would also have to include a Webkit browser by default.
- Tuna-Fish 16y agoBut when they are both free, they have to compete on quality. And on smartphones, windows loses it's main advantage -- a software library dating back to the dawn of the pc. Microsoft cannot just take that market, but they can, and in time, probably will fight for it.
- 10ren 16y agoWhat will happen when smartphones become powerful enough to run windows? [Thinking long-term, tectonic shifts here] There's constraints of display/keyboard size, and the form-factor encourgaes different usages (eg. less business software). But I think people might start to dock their smartphones to large displays and keyboards at home (that's what I do with my netbook) - like a portable harddrive. Projectors might also become popular, giving a large portable display. Or, future desktops might actually be smartphone components, wrapped in a desktop package (in the way microcomputers invaded the workstation, minicomputer and mainframe markets).