“Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on Thursday dismissed the Android mobile operating system, saying he believed that building it was financially unsound for Google,” Suzanne Tindal reports for CNET.
“Speaking at Telstra’s annual investment day, Ballmer said designing Android wasn’t easy for Google. ‘They can hire smart guys, hire a lot of people, blah dee blah dee blah, but you know they start out way behind, in a certain sense,’ he said,” Tindal reports. “He questioned Google’s ability to make money with Android. ‘I don’t really understand their strategy. Maybe somebody else does. If I went to my shareholder meeting, my analyst meeting, and said, ‘hey, we’ve just launched a new product that has no revenue model!’…I’m not sure that my investors would take that very well. But that’s kind of what Google’s telling their investors about Android,’ he said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Zune.
Tindal continues, “Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo also jumped in with his opinion. ‘My view is, (Android is) interesting, not compelling,’ he said.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Joe J.” for the heads up.]
Isn’t Google licensing the OS to the phone manufacturers?
Isn’t that the same thing with MS launching the Zune?
You have to keep in mind that this is the same guy that also thinks he can dance!
Pot. Kettle. Black.
MDN, dude, where do you keep finding these gems of photos of Ballmer? seriously!
Meanwhile, I’m no fan of Google, and certainly don’t appreciate them competing against Apple on this front. Having Ballmer, therefore, dismissing Android, or any other product for that matter, is probably great for Google and a touch of concern for Apple. Maybe.
Then again, I sincerely believe, Google is now at (or at least close to) where the puck has been (Jan 2007 and a few years prior) and Jobs and co. have since then moved on to where it’s heading next.
Jobs, in that regard, can defy the laws of Quntum.
RDF is really a cat stuck inside an infinite well.
Who the hell would be happy to see Ballmer himself at an investor meeting, let alone listen to his opinions on another company?
Launch a product with no revenue model? You mean like giving away Internet Explorer for free… to maybe, oh, I don’t know… kill Netscape. C’mon Steve, you should understand this.
How soon people forget.
“Microsoft CEO Ballmer dismisses Google Android as financially unsound”
Google Android dismisses Microsoft CEO Ballmer as simply unsound. . .
Why is is bad for Google to compete against Apple? I like Apple products very much but I also don’t think that they should be the only company out in the market place. Google isn’t out there saying that they are the only/best game in town like Ballmer does in every speech. When people hear stuff like that from an Apple fan all it does is reinforce this image that people have of “apple fanboys.” Dispute untrue facts, as there are many, but never discourage competition in the market. If we go out there saying Company A shouldn’t even be in the market in the first place then we are pretty much so saying the exact same thing that windows users say. So, we in turn are exactly those fanboys that we are made out to be. In fact we are just as bad as the windows fanboys that we hate so much and are doing the same thing they are just on a different product.
google has a mobile operating system? (jk) But in even more suprising news. Balmer is still talking, yet alone still has a job? only time will tell with android, it’s only a matter of time till microsoft’s jenga of Mobile OS collapses down, along with their other OS.
“Compelling” is reserved for iPhone.
And no-one ever accused Ballmer of having imagination.
Where DO they find these pictures?!?!
The first page here is hillarious…. a must see:
http://images.google.com/images?q=ballmer&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images
Product without a revenue model, sort of like “search” was?
Windows Mobile is financially unsound as well. See my comments in the “circling the bowl” article.
Hmm.. I didn’t think that Android would amount to much, but if Ballmer thinks it’s unsound, I should reconsider.
He was wrong about the iPhone, too.
-jcr
So does this mean that the XBox hardware is finally turning a per unit profit? How much did they lose repairing/replacing faulty 360s?
if these guys would spend their time actually making good stuff instead of wasting all of their money and energy on slandering their competition, they might not be sinking. Both Google and Apple generally talk about the cool stuff they’re making, because it is cool stuff. Microsoft is all talk. Ballmer will go down in history as the CEO that killed this company, make no mistake. Good riddance.
Just keep paying people to use your search, Steve! That’s the way to go!
If Ballmer thinks it sucks, it’s probably wise to invest in it. The man has NO VISION. Epic Fail.
At first glance, Ballmer makes sense.
Then you realize that if Ballmer said, the opposite is true.
Google is kind of like Apple – there is a methid to their madness that is often not apparent at first glance.
Does Ballmer actually believe the things he says or is he just always in spin mode? If he believes what he says, he is really out of touch…
If Ballmer is dismissing it, then we know it will be successful.
This from a man who can’t seem to introduce a product that people want, works well and does not lose money.
By the way, the business model is obvious: Android gives more people better Internet access, which equals more ad revenue for Google.
This works for two reasons:
1) Many people who can’t afford a computer are likely to use a cell phone or Android device to access the Internet.
2) Nearly everyone who uses the Internet uses Google to find websites.
So better access to the Internet on cell phones = ad revenue for Google. They can make money by giving their Android away for free.
Isn’t this the same thing he said about the iphone?? We all know what mistake that was for Apple.
Not saying the android will sell as well, but why the hell would anyone listen to what Ballmer has to say about anything?? Zune, Vista, winmoble.
He’s a f*cking joke!
Let me make a quick correlation:
McCain was reduced to running on fear of Obama being President – true or no – that’s what he was reduced to. “Vote against him!” and I’m the default as a result.
It didn’t work. People like to vote FOR something, not against something.
Now enters Ballmer. He has one mantra – M$ is the default standard. When they are not, he is reduced to bashing, and no one votes with their wallet that way.
People do not buy a Windows mobile phone because they are against Android or iPhone OS X. They buy an Win mobile phone because they voted for it with their money.
But Ballmer can only bash in this market as M$’s shares dwindle. Zune could never reach any sort of critical mass. They said it would, so they could then say it’s the default standard. It didn’t so now they have nothing.
Ballmer is a nightmare for his company, and that’s why I think he’s fantastic!
@cubert
“Isn’t Google licensing the OS to the phone manufacturers?”
NO, I believe they release it as open source code. I read that they are trying to sell add in the android platform, but not sure how.
lol @ MDNTake…
“Isn’t Google licensing the OS to the phone manufacturers?”
I may be wrong, but it’s my understanding that Google is giving away Android, so Google makes no money from distributing Android. When T-Mobile sells a G1, they don’t give Google a cent. This is in comparison to Microsoft, where when Palm sells a Treo, they gave Microsoft a certain amount of money.
However, all the Internet services on the phone lead straight to Google, so Google makes money off the search capabilities. When you bring up Google Maps to find the nearest coffee shop, Google makes money selling the ad to the coffee shop.
I’m not sure whether their license precludes Google competitors (eg, MapQuest, Yahoo) from being included by default on the phone. I would doubt it–that seems more like an Apple thing–but, again, I don’t know.
Does Ballmer really not understand MS’ competitors or if he’s just saying things to reassure MS shareholders? Peter’s comments above are spot on =) If we commenters can figure out how Google makes $, how can Ballmer not?
Either way, Ballmer’s comments make him sound like he’s not scratched deeper than the surface of the topic ’cause no company gives something away for free and not expect something back at some point. The more i hear from Ballmer’s mouth the more i feel pity for MS. It used to be funny slagging MS; now it’s just sad.
This from the company that said they couldn’t really talk about the business model because the didn’t have one yet?
What is this guy talking about? Isn’t it true that all of Microsoft’s recent new products are in the red at least years after they are released? And some have never managed to make a cent of profit. Guess it slipped his mind.
When I see a MDN widget headline with Ballmer’s name on it I can’t wait to hit the link just to see what insane Ballmer photo they have found to post each time.
Another great one! Where do you guys get them all?
Its true, some people use their brains, others don’t, I believe Balmy, uses what his head looks like, a big ugly testicle
Isn’t that the same thing this douche said about iPhone?
’nuff said.
Hey guys, check out the article from idealogue. Classic Balmer. Interesting that he says only about 10 programmers work on Excel – and he said “Our next version of Excel does boldly go where no man went before.” Typical MSFT – overpromise, underdeliver.
Big B got me worried. If he doesn’t see where Google is heading with a phone with a new operating system, he must either blind or dumb. But yes, it’s backwards how Apple and MS did it, desktop OS first and then mobile OS, which might throw him off.
As a business model it makes sense, create first a platform and steal lot of developers from Windows, then expand, and expand, and BOOOM! You have your own (cloud) OS that runs all of your Google apps on any device. I’m sure there is money somewhere there.
Boy the MDN take nailed this one. lol.
It’s important to note the approach Google has taken with Android. It didn’t make sense at first to me either. I understood that Google would give away the OS, and make money on services, but it seemed to me like that would be a much bigger investment in the OS as opposed to just making sure your services dominate the OS platforms out there.
What Google is doing is making sure the latter is true. This is why Google will remain aggressive with developing for the iPhone platform.
By also developing Android, they’re making it easier to dominate on the other platforms, because they will have a larger share of those platforms. That’s easy to understand, but the pay off here is that the investment is actually rather weak. It’s more like organizing a basic platform than fully developing one.
Furthermore, it’s advancing vendors into the direction that is more Google compatible. In short, Android is a modest investment by Google with 3rd party developers and cell phone vendors doing the heavy work while Google can get the services on returns just as much from them as they are from the iPhone.
This is why there’s a difference between Google (today with the iPhone) and Microsoft (early on) in regard to being a competitor to Apple. Microsoft wanted to make money selling the OS and Office (as well as other stuff), Google doesn’t care about the OS, and just wants to sell the other stuff.
If Microsoft had gotten out of the OS market, Apple would’ve dominated. If Google gets out of the mobile OS market, there’s so much competition, Apple wouldn’t really benefit. Apple benefits much more from Google’s development for the iPhone than it’s harmed by the competition from Android.
Android is only on one phone. I am looking forward to seeing how Android does in the market.
I am not planning to but an iPhone or Android operated phone, so I can sit back and watch the show 😀
“Android is only on one phone.”
iPhone is also just in one phone, and it is doing quite well.
‘I don’t really understand their strategy. …”
Well, duh, Ball-me-r, that’s why your stock has been stagnating for half a decade. You don’t understand strategy, period.
He also thought (or at least said) iPhone would never be successful. So I think these comments are a good sign for Android.
Competition for Apple is a great thing. This means my iPhone will get more features and more upgrades and more functionality… faster! Apple has a sound, well thought out strategy for the iPhone and Android gives them motivation to get it right…just like the iPod.
This is why Ballmer is a putz. Google’s revenue model is to tie everything that the user does with the phone other than calling to google services and it’s advertising model. Shouldn’t take an Harvard grad to figure that out.
MS is doomed with this guy at the helm. Go Ballmer.
love his costume pictured at the holloween party. oops, thats actually how he looks? can you say rogaine?…Hair Club for Men and a stairmaster?
Let’s just count the number of M$ divisions that show a profit. Hm. That’s right—Windows Client & Server, Office, and … and … . That’s it—M$ loses money on *everything* else they do.
Ballmer for another 10 years!
Yet another video, that we will be able to look back on in a year or two from now, and laugh at Steve Ballmer.
These are certainly good times.
He is peace of joke.. look at his funny commercials @ youtube
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=steve+ballmer&search;_type=
Absolute crazy guy
M$ is in trouble, just like IBM in the 80’s. When the tipping point comes, it’s going to come fast. The speed at which apps are being written for web based standards (not IE standards) is amazing. When it starts, old Ballmer will be having some serious discussions with his shareholders about his losing ventures. Strategy Smatergy, they aren’t going to be happy seeing good money thrown after bad when M$ growth rates slow.
Now, if Apple would find a good partner or 2 to license, (HP for the enterprise would be a great place to start) I’m guessing Apple could shoot over 25% of the market in about 2-3 years.
OK, which of Ballmer’s predictions came to reality?
NONE, ZERO, NADA!
If Ballmer says it won’t fly, it’s time to buy Google stock.
I reckon Android was sanctioned by Jobs. Seriously!
I can see the directors meeting now.
SJ “Ok Eric,your mission, should you choose to accept it is to make a mobile OS that is one quarter as good as the iPhone and 10 times better than Windoze mobile. Let’s stick it to Fester!!!”
“Got it?”
ES “Yeah, steve, I like where you’re coming from
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