At Microsoft’s private company meeting at Seattle’s Safeco Field yesterday a “poor Microsoft employee who tried to take a picture of Ballmer with an iPhone,” Todd Bishop reports for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
MacDailyNews Take: Doesn’t sound “poor” to us. He /she sounds smarter than the average Softie; must work at MacBU.
Bishop reports, “When Ballmer was making his big entrance — slapping hands, running around, and generally whooping things up, as is his tradition at these events. That was when he spotted someone at field level, allegedly a member of the Windows group, using an iPhone to take his picture.”
“Ballmer grabbed the Apple device from the employee and made some funny remarks as everyone booed. Then he put it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it, before walking away,” Bishop reports. “The scene was visible on the big screen, so even people in the upper deck could see what was happening.”
Bishop reports, “Of course, Ballmer might do better in the future by making sure that the employee has good reason to pick a Windows-branded phone over competing devices — but as one of the person’s colleagues noted on Twitter, ‘you just don’t pick up the CEO of Chevy in a BMW.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: That employee must be new or he’d know that the delusional Microsoft brass loves to pretend that they don’t offer inferior products and that Apple, their inspiration, doesn’t even exist.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MBP Screamer” for the heads up.]
@ Ray,
Can you imagine how awesome that would have been if Steve Ballmer actually did slip on the iPhone and throw out his back?
That instance would have resounded around the world, highlighting the imbecility of Ballmer for everyone to laugh about. Ohhhh, if only …
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I used to have a big client that was purchased by UPS. Not long after, without thinking, I sent some paperwork down to them via DHL, as I had done for years. It arrived the same day the UPS brass showed up to inspect the place. I almost lost my job that day. But lesson learned. Corporate critters are TOUCHY.
If that employee was actually shooting video – and it was running throughout that little cameo, it may make him a lot less poorer…
Fingers crossed!
“I think Jobs would have the same problem with a win mob phone at an apple event. the only reason he would not if it was a demo on how hard it is to do simple things on win phone.”
Actually, SJ would not have that problem since there would never be a win mob phone at an Apple event in the first place.
However, even if there was, I think that SJ would either ignore it completely or point out the many ways that it is an inferior product. I don’t think he would do a pretend monkey dance on it.
Now we know now that there is at least one person at Microsoft that has good taste.
Ballmer has the tact, finesse, gentility, even-temperedness and je-ne-sais-quoi to run for Congress in South Carolina.
I actually know someone senior at Microsoft who has his WinMo company issued phone and his personal iPhone.
Of course, this event was scripted for Balmer to do just this. It would be hard to see the individuals from the stage with the lights on him. If it was real, he could be charged with distruction of property.
@macaday that would be awesome if the iPhone landed backside up filming his stomp & possibly his slip & fall!
Some sources close to the scene say he really did try to stomp on it and kept missing.
Maybe if the bonehead allowed more Apple products at MS Headquarters he’d realize that MS really needs to make better stuff.
On second thought, I think the reason he is so fat is so he can comfortably fit his head up his ass and avoid seeing reality.
If I was that employee… I would be visiting a lawyer today and expecting a nice check in the mail in the very near future!
Also, all of Microsoft employees must be thinking what kind of nut do I work for and should I be looking for a different position with another company?
Worst yet, what do other potential employers think of my choose of employer?
Not good!
Ballmer is a total douchebag. The employee should have called him a dick head.
I would have.
Ballmers lowest point yet. i feel sad for him but even more so for everyone at Microsoftie. What kind of a CEO does this. I hope for MS sake that he doesn’t have allot of say in the companies products. Poor windows fans. We SHOULD feel sorry for them.
that’s all
I thought Microsoft was a software (and services) company.
He can pry my iPhone from my cold, dead hands.
yeah, Ballmer’s a douchebag, but to be fair he was probably just clowning around.
This reminds me of an incident in the 70s when I was working at TI. Fred Bucy, later CEO, previously head if TI calculators saw an HP calculator on an engineer’s desk and took a hammer to it. After that TI issued the top TI scientific calculator to all their engineers and we had to attend a half day training session.
The employee should sue the sad fucker.
I certainly would.
Notice that the iPhone owner’s colleague (therefore, Microsoft employee too) didn’t phrase his analogy the other around?
The guy is basically saying WinMo devices are a Chevy to an iPhone’s BMW…
‘you just don’t pick up the CEO of Chevy in a BMW.’
Microsoft should be so lucky as to have a single product that provides the performance and value of a Chevrolet Corvette. Let’s stop insulting Chevrolet by comparing them to Microsoft.
comment to PR:
How is your apple stock after falling at least 1.5% since 9-9-9?
@ha
“How is your apple stock after falling at least 1.5% since 9-9-9?”
MSFT up 27.87% year to date. (quite good)
AAPL up 101.57% year to date.
I put my money where my mouth is. AAPL
What would be cool is if Steve jobs sent him an iPhone or iPod (free) engraved with Jobs signature
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> that would be epic.
Why didn’t someone video the incident with their Windows Mobile phone?
Couldn’t they figure out how to use it?
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