Rich Fiscus
19 Oct 2011 3:44
Watching an interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, you could easily get the impression Google is struggling to compete in cloud computing and smartphones.
According to Ballmer, when it comes to the competition for enterprise cloud services, Microsoft is "Winning, winning, winning, winning, winning."
You certainly wouldn't guess Google's smartphone OS was a market leader based on his comments. He said Android is too complicated and the handsets too cheap.
"You don't need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows phone," said Ballmer, "and I think you do to use an Android phone." He called Android handsets "inconsistent," and complained that they "don't look alike." He added, "the cheapest phones on the market this holiday will still probably be the Android phones - the very rock bottom cheapest."
And how does Windows Phone stack up? According to Ballmer it will attract consumers because the phones will look good and feel nice in your hand. But primarily, he says, they will succeed because Windows Phone is "putting your information front and center," instead of "seas of icons."
Ballmer did have some compliments for Apple, even if they were a little backhanded. He said they were doing "some nice things" with the new Siri voice assistant for the iPhone 4S, but suggested Microsoft was doing the same things a year ago and had long since moved further.