“Speaking at [The McGraw-Hill Companies’ 2009 Media Summit] conference in New York [yesterday] morning, Steve Ballmer was asked about the momentum Apple has experienced in the desktop and notebook computer market. The Microsoft CEO quickly jumped in to correct that impression, alluding to more recent data showing Apple’s growth taking a hit. And then he said something that could singlehandedly refan the flames of the Mac vs. PC rivalry,” Todd Bishop reports for TechFlash.
Bishop reports, “‘Apple gained about one point, but now I think the tide has really turned back the other direction,’ Ballmer said, via webcast. ‘The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment — same piece of hardware — paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that’s a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Comparing this February to last February, Apple’s Mac sales declined 16% according to NPD’s measures not because of any “tide change,” but because Apple had just released the MacBook Air last February and not this February. Channeling Paul Harvey, “And now you know the rest of the story.” Ballmer is a liar by omission, which is actually an improvement over his usual flat-out lies. Apple will sell in excess of 2 million Macs this quarter. Mac sales are just fine. And Ballmer knows it.
If the economy is so helpful to Microsoft, Ballmer should fire more people, so he can sell more copies of his shiteous OS on junky PCs to the financially-strapped (God knows, they didn’t get rich on their MSFT shares).
Bishop continues, “The suggestion that the only real difference between a Mac and a Windows PC is the logo, and the price, will no doubt stir some righteous indignation among the Mac faithful. Of course, Windows PC sales have been slumping, as well, in the face of the difficult economy.”
MacDailyNews Take: Actually, that Apple logo is the only reason why we buy Apple products. We’d pay an extra $1,000 for it. 
Bishop continues, “The interviewer, BusinessWeek editor-in-chief Stephen Adler, followed up by asking if Ballmer owned any Apple products himself. A secret iPod, maybe? ‘No, none. I don’t, my sons don’t, my wife doesn’t,’ Ballmer responded, as the crowd laughed. ‘You’re talking to a guy, though, whose dad worked for Ford, and once Ford sold Land Rover and Jaguar, we’re selling the cars to get Fords, so you may have a weird outlier in me.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Weird outlier.” “Luckiest dorm assignee ever.” “Used car salesman in way over his head.” “Abject embarrassment.” They all work.
