Check out this video clip of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer discussing Apple at the McGraw-Hill Media Conference. As can be expected, he says that neither he, his wife, nor his children own any Apple products. But what I find more interesting are Ballmer’s thoughts on the economy and its effect on Apple.
He states: “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.”
Fair enough. But Ballmer’s comments about Apple’s logo, however, suggest that Microsoft still can’t come to grips with the fact that people aren’t buying Apple products to be “cool”, but rather because they deem the OS and user experience worthy of a premium. It’s not about the logo, it’s about the quality that the logo has come to represent. If Microsoft truly believes that people buy Apple products for the logo, how can they honestly expect their own products to compete when they’re not even taking competitors seriously. I mean, it’s easy to dismiss the iPhone, for example, if you think its advantages are minimal, and its success simply the result of some fad. That type of mindset, however, results in releases like Windows Mobile 6.5.
March 19th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Sounds typical of Ballmer. Cannot see quality right in front of him. This surely does not bode well for his company. I use Mac not because of the logo, but because of how the softwares run on it. The ease of use and the reliability is worth the extra $500 in terms of time saved and the pleasure of using such an elegant and well thought out platform.
March 19th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Balmer is a used car salesmen that got lucky. Isn’t there a premium price on there top of the line OS?
March 19th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
after switching to mac, i found that i’ve stopped going to my therapist and saved thousands. My trichotillomania seems to have subsided too.
March 19th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
All I can say to Steve B. is lets way til earnings season. Then we’ll see who’s truly suffering. Microsoft who sells to the going “out of business” businesses or Apple who sells its goods to consumers and those free to make a platform choice.
Personally, I think Steve B. is in for another round of layoffs. And maybe even Apple may have to slim down and re-focus in these odd times.