Ballmer on phones: Apple's got momentum, but game not over |
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Ballmer on phones: Apple's got momentum, but game not over
Ballmer speaks at a Microsoft event earlier this year in this file photo from the company.
Speaking to business leaders in Boston today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer acknowledged Apple's progress in the mobile phone business but said the market is still in its infancy and noted that the Windows Mobile business is essentially neck-and-neck with the iPhone in annual units sold.
That's one of several interesting tidbits passed along to us by Eric Convey, managing editor at the Boston Business Journal, one of our sister publications. Convey covered Ballmer's appearance at the Boston College Chief Executives Club, reporting on the Microsoft CEO's remarks about the economy and other topics.
Asked about the mobile phone business at the event, Ballmer said the mobile platform is in its infancy, citing sales of about 20 million units each for the iPhone and Windows Mobile last year.
Those kinds of numbers pale in comparison to a mature market like personal computers. "Heck, we sold 300 million PCs in a bad economy last year," Ballmer said.
He added, "I think there's still a lot of innovation to come in the phone form factor. We're in the game. Apple's got some momentum. BlackBerry does."
No word on whether anyone attempted to take Ballmer's photo with an iPhone. But as Convey notes in a follow-up item, someone in the audience did have the sheer temerity to inform the Microsoft CEO that he had just "Googled" something. Ballmer didn't pretend to stomp on the guy's computer but instead suggested, in response, that it would have been preferable to use Bing.
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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