“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!