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He was out of touch. People give Balmer a lot of crap, and while most of it is well deserved, I think people give him too hard a time for his comments about th
by wifipunk 3y ago
He was out of touch.
People give Balmer a lot of crap, and while most of it is well deserved, I think people give him too hard a time for his comments about the iPhone. It's essential to consider the context of the time. When he made that statement, BlackBerry was dominant in the business sector due to its keyboard and secure email features. Windows Mobile devices were also pretty competitive, and the concept of a touch-only device was foreign to many people. Balmer's comments were reflective of the prevailing business sentiment at the time.
The lesson here is not just that Balmer was wrong, but that any executive can be if they become too myopic, focusing only on what has been successful in the past without considering the disruptive potential of new technologies.
- brudgers 3y agoHe wasn’t wrong in 2007. Very few people were willing to fork over money for an iPhone for personal use. $500 phones were for business. The world changed in the next five years. Streaming video, widespread 802.11N and 3g changed the calculus.
- halJordan 3y agoThat's not the world i remember, i remember iphones being all the rage, and regularly selling out and drawing insane lines at launch locations. I also remember the people who couldn't stand touchscreens or the beer-pouring app, but that doesn't obviate the iphone.
- brudgers 3y agoI don’t disagree. Your world was probably different than mine. The people in my social circle had different priorities. I didn’t know anyone with an iPhone until late in 2008.
- seanthemon 3y agoYep I saw my first Iphone 1st gen from a friend that visited in a 2008 (I was wowed), two years later we bought 5 for the family, insane times..