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May 28, 2008

rivals

Ballmer: Apple is “fantastically successful”

Posted May. 28, ’08, 9:03 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Rivals

gatesballmer.jpgDerik already mentioned to you that Bill Gates and Stevie Ballmer pimped Windows 7, the successor to Vista, at last night’s D: All Things Digital conference. But the pair also made some comments about their relationship with Apple, prompted in part by the demo of Windows multi-touch features that are rather reminiscent of the iPhone.

Here’s John Markoff of the New York Times:

Fencing over the issue of whether Apple will get to market first with desktop multi-touch features, Mr. Ballmer implied that the two companies don’t compete directly.

“We’ll sell 290 million PCs, and Apple will sell 10 million PCs,” he said. “They’re fantastically successful and so are we and our partners. But it’s a different job. Steve can flip his hand and sell a few models and I don’t take a thing away from him.”

I kid you not; this may be the smartest thing Steve Ballmer has ever said—so smart, I don’t think he realizes it. Ballmer may be trying to put down Apple by tossing out the huge disparity in their sales numbers (never mind that Microsoft itself doesn’t directly sell those PCs), but put it in the context of how much profit they each manage to take home on the amount of computers they sell and it’s clear that both companies are pretty profitable. So, despite the fact that, yes, Apple and Microsoft both make operating systems, they aren’t really in direct competition any more.

Or, to put it another way, while Vista’s lackluster performance can certainly help Apple, Microsoft doesn’t have to lose in order for Apple to win. Remember that piece a couple of weeks ago about Apple’s share of over-$1,000 computers in retail?

Honestly, I think about the only place the two are really competing directly is in the music player market—and given the latest on the Zune, you can’t even really call that “competition,” can you?

In other news, Ballmer also demonstrated the patented “Swooping Eagle” Kung Fu move (above) that he has used before to great effect.

[Image by Asa Mathat]


6 Comments

Dave-O said:

Of course, with Boot Camp and virtualization, Microsoft gets a nontrivial percentage of those 10 million Macs.

May 28, 2008 9:44 AM
Paul S said:

At least he didn't use monkey-style this time.

May 28, 2008 9:56 AM
Paranoid said:

I believe Ballmer is a brainwashed Apple Agent...planted in Microsoft as a saboteur to drive down its stock price down to single digits.

Kinda like "Manchurian Candidate."

Windows Vista, Zune, choosing HD DVD over Blu Ray...all these crappy products..... yeah, no coincidence at all.

May 28, 2008 12:32 PM
Jwo said:

I agree (on several points)
For years (at least 10) the "market share" argument has been a PR staple for Microsoft to beat Apple over the head. But if you dig deeper and analyze it as a mature market, like the auto industry, there's plenty of business and profits with a single digit market share.
At one point during the late 90s, Apple's market share was still equal to that of Volvo, BMW, and Jaguar COMBINED.
It is a smart thing for Balmer to stop taking his sophomoric and arrogant pot shots at Apple (among others). It only becomes YouTube fodder and comes back to damage his Microsoft's image. My Mom who'd never seen Balmer, and rarely speaks out about anyone, recently saw him on the news and said "he's the CEO of Microsoft?! He acts like a 9 year old!"

It's in Microsoft's and Apple's interest to better understand their core target audience and best serve it. Microsoft has difficulty selling computer products to consumers vs. Apple. Apple has difficulty selling to corporate IT dept's.
It's about time Balmer gets over it and focuses. Apple has since 1997 and their success speaks for itself. Microsoft will continue to make serious money if it tends to their knitting as well.


May 28, 2008 12:52 PM
Taras said:

I have yet to see Microsoft sell a single PC...

May 28, 2008 1:33 PM
Neil Anderson Author Profile Page said:

And how many phones did Ballmer say Microsoft sells?

May 28, 2008 9:32 PM

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