Microsoft's Ballmer calls Apple "controlling", Android "wild"
Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer has laid into his competition in the mobile space, calling Apple’s iPhone and iPad ecosystem “highly priced” and “highly controlled”, while he considers Android to be “wild” and “uncontrolled”.
Speaking to LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a boisterous Ballmer called out Android’s fragmented app strategy as being problematic. He said that from “an app compatibility perspective, maybe in a way that’s not always in the consumers’ best interests”.
Apple’s premium pricing strategy also came under fire:
“Maybe because we live in a country where every phone is subsidised you might forget it. But in Russia last week, you had to pay $1,000 for an iPhone. So in Russia, you’re not going to sell many iPhones.”
Ballmer also took time to highlight the merits of Microsoft’s own Windows Phone 8 operating system, saying that it has “the quality” without being stuck “at the premium price”, with a policed app ecosystem that is “controlled, but maybe not as controlled,” as Apple’s.
Ballmer praised Windows Phone 8 as being “the most personal smartphone”, stating that “when you whip out your phone, you really see the things that matter to you. And just moving things back and forth among Windows devices will be appealing to a lot of people,”
Via: TechCrunch
