5 ms·

Yeah, here's an amusing trash talking example: Nov 2007: 'Ballmer Calls Android a "Press Release"' http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1326234 ht

Yeah, here's an amusing trash talking example: Nov 2007: 'Ballmer Calls Android a "Press Release"' http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1326234 http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/08/1326234 'Right now they have a press release, we have many, many millions of customers, great software, many hardware devices and they're welcome in our world,' [Ballmer] added." Oct. 2009: "Big Cellphone Makers Shifting to Android System" http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/26android.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/26android.html 'But now that smartphones are popular, Microsoft’s operating system, Windows Mobile, is foundering. More cellphone makers are turning to the free Android operating system made by Microsoft’s latest nemesis, Google.' With a history like that, I take every example of trash talking by Ballmer to mean "yikes! those guys are going to kick our butts."

billybob 17y ago
Also - to be fair, in Nov. 2007, Android WAS just a press release. But Google had already made clearly superior search, maps, and email products, and it didn't take a genius to see that they wouldn't create a phone OS unless they could seriously one-up Windows Mobile. Which they have, by the way. My Android-powered phone is fast, powerful, and sleek. I have hated every Windows Mobile phone I've ever touched - slow, buggy, and crashy are how I'd describe them.
- iron_ball 17y ago
  All Verizon has to do is continue my tethering plan to the Droid and they have a sale.
CamperBob 17y ago
And don't forget http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo . Why Ballmer is still employed at any Fortune 500 company, much less running one, is a problem worthy of serious academic study.
- hop 17y ago
  Microsoft has an incompetent board of directors way to friendly to the CEO.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- qeorge 17y ago
  Bah! Ballmer does fine running Microsoft, you just don't like Microsoft. But I agree, he'd be a bad fit at most other F500 companies.
- netcan 17y ago
  It seems that this sort of nastiness is becoming a defining feature of their media culture.
jimbokun 17y ago
He had similar things to say about iPhone. http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2007/04/ballmer-says-iphone-has-no-chance-to-gain-significant-market-share.ars http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2007/04/ballmer-says-i... "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance," said Ballmer. "It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get." The charts here have iPhone handily out-pacing all Windows Mobile units: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/03/canalys_q3_2009_iphone_rim_taking_over_smartphone_market.html http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/03/canalys_q3_200...

billybob 17y ago

Also - to be fair, in Nov. 2007, Android WAS just a press release. But Google had already made clearly superior search, maps, and email products, and it didn't take a genius to see that they wouldn't create a phone OS unless they could seriously one-up Windows Mobile. Which they have, by the way. My Android-powered phone is fast, powerful, and sleek. I have hated every Windows Mobile phone I've ever touched - slow, buggy, and crashy are how I'd describe them.

iron_ball 17y ago
All Verizon has to do is continue my tethering plan to the Droid and they have a sale.

CamperBob 17y ago

And don't forget http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo . Why Ballmer is still employed at any Fortune 500 company, much less running one, is a problem worthy of serious academic study.

hop 17y ago
Microsoft has an incompetent board of directors way to friendly to the CEO.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
qeorge 17y ago
Bah! Ballmer does fine running Microsoft, you just don't like Microsoft. But I agree, he'd be a bad fit at most other F500 companies.
netcan 17y ago
It seems that this sort of nastiness is becoming a defining feature of their media culture.

jimbokun 17y ago

He had similar things to say about iPhone. http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2007/04/ballmer-says-iphone-has-no-chance-to-gain-significant-market-share.ars http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2007/04/ballmer-says-i... "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance," said Ballmer. "It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get." The charts here have iPhone handily out-pacing all Windows Mobile units: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/03/canalys_q3_2009_iphone_rim_taking_over_smartphone_market.html http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/03/canalys_q3_200...