

Ballmer on Android: "Blah dee blah dee blah" - narendra
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10083590-94.html

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tialys
Well... given his track record, I'd say this sets up Android to be an enormous
success.

This says a lot about Microsoft's stance on the phone market as well (we won't
innovate unless we can make serious money!).

Edit: I'm not the only one!
(<http://daringfireball.net/linked/2008/11/06/ballmer-android>)

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lpgauth
Obviously Ballmer doesn't see the big picture.

Android is not free! (It is but they have a revenue model)

Google pays out 1$ for every Firefox install for a search box. Android bundles
all google services...

Also, Google is very interested in the mobile networks and this is a good way
to develop relationship with carriers.

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mickt
I'm sure he does see the big picture, he's probably just spreading FUD.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt>

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ssharp
He is just trying to publicly discredit the competition. If you actually think
Microsoft is ignoring Android internally, then you are very mistaken. He was
asked a question about it and answered it. His only realistic options were to
do what he did and talk about it in a negative sense or politely refuse the
question. What else would you expect him to say? He's not going to legitimize
a competitors product, especially this early in Android's life cycle.

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raganwald
Sure he's trying to publicly discredit them, but the point is he's doing a
terrible job of it. By saying things that are obviously false, he discredits
himself and Microsoft. Here's a realistic option you didn't mention:
_reposition the competition_.

For example, he could say, "We've had a look, and it certainly has its niche,
but ultimately it's just another Google Labs experiment in Perpetual Beta.
Anybody remember ___ or ___ or ___ (he names some Google Labs has-beens),
experiments that didn't turn into anything?

We'll have more to say when they release a version with fewer bugs and rough
corners in a year or two."

Then he smiles and shuts up, refusing to say exactly what the bugs and rough
corners are. This is a lot more believable, and it positions the phone as an
experiment. That would be close enough to the truth to raise some doubts. And
even fans might be reminded to wait for a faster, cheaper, better version down
the road, which would undermine their sales.

Or he could reposition the phone as being hard-to-use, which some of his
market believes is the case about Linux. Or "incompatible." Or any of half a
dozen reasonable quasi-objections that spread Uncertainty and Doubt. But a
bald-faced dismissal runs smack against reality.

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dejb
> But a bald-faced dismissal runs smack against reality.

Gives me the mental image of Balmer head-ramming a wall.

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raganwald
Stop it! You're making my mouth water.

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henning
I wonder if this is how AltaVista felt about Google.

"Don't those propellerheads from Stanford know that we already have perfectly
good search engines? Interesting, but not _compelling_."

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crescendo
He also dismissed iPhone initially and didn't understand why people would buy
it. How can the CEO of one of the world's most well-known technology companies
be so completely clueless about technology?

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stcredzero
Hey, if he's a good reverse-oracle, then that's valuable too!

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mcormier
What I would do for the audio of Ballmer saying "blah dee blah dee blah"....

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henning
After audio and video of him hooting, howling and above all sweating profusely
to the sounds of Gloria Estefan surfaced on the Internet, perhaps audio/video
of his appearances has become restricted.

~~~
qwph
"Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers..."

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snprbob86
Android, Chrome, and much of the other cool tech Google builds are not focused
on "winning". They are focused on changing the game. It is not about gaining
market share percentage-wise, it is about growing the market.

Phones are the primary way a large portion of the world will be introduced to
the internet. The more people on the net using Google's products, the more
money Google makes. If Android never sells one phone, but Apple and Microsoft
have a fire lit under their asses to make better phones, then Android is a
success.

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lallysingh
As eloquent and thought-provoking as ever...

The dancing gorilla image of him has stuck for more reasons than that video...

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ram1024
if you're going to get talking about a competitor making a big move, never say
"i don't understand their strategy" or "they don't have a strategy"

of course they do. and you just look like a schmuck when you tell the world
basically that you don't care enough to do some simple research and come up
with some pretty common sense conclusions.

if search is your money maker, and mobile is the new vogue, what do you do to
get it so that your search is what everyone will be using?

android is a genius solution, google paid mozilla for years for control of
search on firefox, then they came to their senses and made chrome. android is
simply a leapfrog of a similar mistake. sure they can partner with RIM and
Winmo and Symbian and Apple, OR they can make their own platform, innovate its
features, open it to attract a huge base of developers and manufacturers, and
tie core features to its own products seamlessly.

