4 ms·

>>This is the real reason behind's Ballmer's failure. Yes, I am sure it had nothing to do with him lacking the basic vision one would expect in any tech CEO an

by random_19980 7y ago

>>This is the real reason behind's Ballmer's failure. Yes, I am sure it had nothing to do with him lacking the basic vision one would expect in any tech CEO and saying idiotic things like "no one would buy such an expensive phone" (about the iPhone). If you look like a buffoon, you act like a buffoon, and you talk like a buffoon...

theandrewbailey 7y ago
It sounds like he had to say/believe that to keep the lawyers away.
hinkley 7y ago
Ballmer may be the best example of a Shaved Gorilla currently living, but I think he became the official scapegoat of Microsoft when they put him in charge. Things were already going horribly wrong, and they put a despot in charge to soak up the blame for all of the terrible things his peers, subordinates and predecessors were already cocking up. The next person has a comparatively easy job of leading a Renaissance, assuming he didn't manage to run it into the ground in the interim. Which he nearly did. I really miss http://minimsft.blogspot.com/ http://minimsft.blogspot.com/ and not just for the schadenfreude. There was quite a bit of wisdom to be extracted from hindsight is 20/20 commentary, when you're an outside observer.
throwaway0889 7y ago
> saying idiotic things like "no one would buy such an expensive phone" (about the iPhone). This is something that people keep saying but he way actually right and at this point this is just an Internet meme. I remember that moment. The iPhone costed $800 with a phone plan. Insane. Nobody does that even today, so in that regard he was right. Only after the iPhone 3 and $200 phone with a contract did it ever start selling.
- solidasparagus 7y ago
  The original iPhone did $745M in revenue before the iPhone 3G was released (not 100% sure if that the one you're talking about since there was never a phone called the iPhone 3). Not exactly 'nobody'...
  - throwaway0889 7y ago
    Then why did the price drop 4x and sales grew 3x with the iPhone 3g? Seriously, if price wasn't a problem and Ballmer was wrong, why did Apple even drop the price? Truth is this wasn't that long ago, I still remember it, and the price drop was a huge deal to a lot of people. Articles like these were everywhere. https://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_090622.html https://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_090622.html
    - vezycash 7y ago
      Thanks for the link. Many people feel that things we take for granted today were obvious successes in the past. Almost none of them ever hit the ground running. Electricity, the internet, eCommerce, iPhone, even Bitcoin weren't obvious hits in the least. If the success of bitcoin was guaranteed or obvious, In 2009, I'd have bought 111,111 bitcoins for $100 at $0.0009 per bitcoin. Now, I'd be a billionaire.
    - deanCommie 7y ago
      Right, so it went from a very popular phone to THE MOST POPULAR PHONE. It was aleeady a success. Then it became a world beater.
    - solidasparagus 7y ago
      > "no one would buy such an expensive phone" Lower prices definitely had benefits, but 3/4 of a billion dollars in revenue clearly shows that many people would buy such an expensive phone.

theandrewbailey 7y ago

It sounds like he had to say/believe that to keep the lawyers away.

hinkley 7y ago

Ballmer may be the best example of a Shaved Gorilla currently living, but I think he became the official scapegoat of Microsoft when they put him in charge. Things were already going horribly wrong, and they put a despot in charge to soak up the blame for all of the terrible things his peers, subordinates and predecessors were already cocking up. The next person has a comparatively easy job of leading a Renaissance, assuming he didn't manage to run it into the ground in the interim. Which he nearly did. I really miss http://minimsft.blogspot.com/ http://minimsft.blogspot.com/ and not just for the schadenfreude. There was quite a bit of wisdom to be extracted from hindsight is 20/20 commentary, when you're an outside observer.

throwaway0889 7y ago

> saying idiotic things like "no one would buy such an expensive phone" (about the iPhone). This is something that people keep saying but he way actually right and at this point this is just an Internet meme. I remember that moment. The iPhone costed $800 with a phone plan. Insane. Nobody does that even today, so in that regard he was right. Only after the iPhone 3 and $200 phone with a contract did it ever start selling.

solidasparagus 7y ago
The original iPhone did $745M in revenue before the iPhone 3G was released (not 100% sure if that the one you're talking about since there was never a phone called the iPhone 3). Not exactly 'nobody'...
- throwaway0889 7y ago
  Then why did the price drop 4x and sales grew 3x with the iPhone 3g? Seriously, if price wasn't a problem and Ballmer was wrong, why did Apple even drop the price? Truth is this wasn't that long ago, I still remember it, and the price drop was a huge deal to a lot of people. Articles like these were everywhere. https://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_090622.html https://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_090622.html
  - vezycash 7y ago
    Thanks for the link. Many people feel that things we take for granted today were obvious successes in the past. Almost none of them ever hit the ground running. Electricity, the internet, eCommerce, iPhone, even Bitcoin weren't obvious hits in the least. If the success of bitcoin was guaranteed or obvious, In 2009, I'd have bought 111,111 bitcoins for $100 at $0.0009 per bitcoin. Now, I'd be a billionaire.
  - deanCommie 7y ago
    Right, so it went from a very popular phone to THE MOST POPULAR PHONE. It was aleeady a success. Then it became a world beater.
  - solidasparagus 7y ago
    > "no one would buy such an expensive phone" Lower prices definitely had benefits, but 3/4 of a billion dollars in revenue clearly shows that many people would buy such an expensive phone.