Microsoft's Ballmer whoops it up as Ford CEO delivers his new car |
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Microsoft's Ballmer whoops it up as Ford CEO delivers his new car
Steve Ballmer and Alan Mulally with the Microsoft CEO's new Ford Fusion Hybrid.
Too bad Ford doesn't have more customers as loyal and enthusiastic as Steve Ballmer. Then again, the Microsoft CEO is an easy sell, as a Detroit native whose father worked for the automaker. And not every car buyer gets a personal delivery from Ford's top executive.
"Hehehe! Hahaha! Beautiful, man!" crowed Ballmer as he bounded across the cement to greet Ford CEO Alan Mulally. The former Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO drove up in the Microsoft chief's new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid at an event staged for the media today on the software company's Redmond campus.
The companies say it was the 1 millionth Ford to come with the Microsoft Sync hands-free entertainment and information technology, for controlling media, making calls and getting information using voice commands. Ballmer, who was spotted in a new Range Rover when Ford owned that brand, will be getting considerably better gas mileage, about 41 mpg, in his new car.
Much of the discussion with reporters centered around the economy. I asked if the economic turmoil might create an opportunity for Microsoft to make more tech deals with car makers (under the theory that auto companies might want to outsource more of that R&D). Here's a video of Ballmer and Mulally responding to that question, and to one from Wilson Rothman of Gizmodo about the future of technology in cars.
Follow-up: Here's an extended version of the video.
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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