Ballmer on Android: "Blah dee blah dee blah" | Hacker News Reader

Ballmer on Android: "Blah dee blah dee blah"

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16 pointsnarendra20 comments

Well... given his track record, I'd say this sets up Android to be an enormous success.

This says a lot about Microsoft's stance on the phone market as well (we won't innovate unless we can make serious money!).

Edit: I'm not the only one! (http://daringfireball.net/linked/2008/11/06/ballmer-android)

Obviously Ballmer doesn't see the big picture.

Android is not free! (It is but they have a revenue model)

Google pays out 1$ for every Firefox install for a search box. Android bundles all google services...

Also, Google is very interested in the mobile networks and this is a good way to develop relationship with carriers.

I'm sure he does see the big picture, he's probably just spreading FUD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt

He laughed at the iphone too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So7qrFO_p44

He is just trying to publicly discredit the competition. If you actually think Microsoft is ignoring Android internally, then you are very mistaken. He was asked a question about it and answered it. His only realistic options were to do what he did and talk about it in a negative sense or politely refuse the question. What else would you expect him to say? He's not going to legitimize a competitors product, especially this early in Android's life cycle.

Sure he's trying to publicly discredit them, but the point is he's doing a terrible job of it. By saying things that are obviously false, he discredits himself and Microsoft. Here's a realistic option you didn't mention: _reposition the competition_.

For example, he could say, "We've had a look, and it certainly has its niche, but ultimately it's just another Google Labs experiment in Perpetual Beta. Anybody remember ___ or ___ or ___ (he names some Google Labs has-beens), experiments that didn't turn into anything?

We'll have more to say when they release a version with fewer bugs and rough corners in a year or two."

Then he smiles and shuts up, refusing to say exactly what the bugs and rough corners are. This is a lot more believable, and it positions the phone as an experiment. That would be close enough to the truth to raise some doubts. And even fans might be reminded to wait for a faster, cheaper, better version down the road, which would undermine their sales.

Or he could reposition the phone as being hard-to-use, which some of his market believes is the case about Linux. Or "incompatible." Or any of half a dozen reasonable quasi-objections that spread Uncertainty and Doubt. But a bald-faced dismissal runs smack against reality.

Looks like he squandered his opportunity to be more evil.

> But a bald-faced dismissal runs smack against reality.

Gives me the mental image of Balmer head-ramming a wall.

Stop it! You're making my mouth water.

I wonder if this is how AltaVista felt about Google.

"Don't those propellerheads from Stanford know that we already have perfectly good search engines? Interesting, but not compelling."

He also dismissed iPhone initially and didn't understand why people would buy it. How can the CEO of one of the world's most well-known technology companies be so completely clueless about technology?

Hey, if he's a good reverse-oracle, then that's valuable too!

His was one of the Technology-Guy/Business-Guy partnerships back in the day. He was the Business-Guy. The Technology-Guy has since left.

>> He also dismissed iPhone initially and didn't understand why people would buy it.

IMHO he just told that to the journalist. What he really think about iP or what he does and does not understand is a different matter.

What I would do for the audio of Ballmer saying "blah dee blah dee blah"....

After audio and video of him hooting, howling and above all sweating profusely to the sounds of Gloria Estefan surfaced on the Internet, perhaps audio/video of his appearances has become restricted.

"Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers..."

Android, Chrome, and much of the other cool tech Google builds are not focused on "winning". They are focused on changing the game. It is not about gaining market share percentage-wise, it is about growing the market.

Phones are the primary way a large portion of the world will be introduced to the internet. The more people on the net using Google's products, the more money Google makes. If Android never sells one phone, but Apple and Microsoft have a fire lit under their asses to make better phones, then Android is a success.

As eloquent and thought-provoking as ever...

The dancing gorilla image of him has stuck for more reasons than that video...

if you're going to get talking about a competitor making a big move, never say "i don't understand their strategy" or "they don't have a strategy"

of course they do. and you just look like a schmuck when you tell the world basically that you don't care enough to do some simple research and come up with some pretty common sense conclusions.

if search is your money maker, and mobile is the new vogue, what do you do to get it so that your search is what everyone will be using?

android is a genius solution, google paid mozilla for years for control of search on firefox, then they came to their senses and made chrome. android is simply a leapfrog of a similar mistake. sure they can partner with RIM and Winmo and Symbian and Apple, OR they can make their own platform, innovate its features, open it to attract a huge base of developers and manufacturers, and tie core features to its own products seamlessly.

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