In last company meeting, Ballmer calls Apple 'fashionable,' says Microsoft about 'doing more'

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer may be on his way out soon, but he's not leaving without taking a few more swipes at Apple, Amazon, and Google.



In what will likely be his final appearance at Microsoft's companywide meeting as chief executive, Ballmer took the stage with his typical bombast, according to Reuters. The Microsoft chief sought to reassure the 13,000 full-time employees in attendance ? as well as the 25,000 tuned in on the web ? that the Redmond software giant still has a big role to play in the future of computing.

"We have unbelievable potential in front of us, we have an unbelievable destiny," said Ballmer, reusing a quote from Microsoft's first companywide meeting in 1983.

Ballmer also took the opportunity to take a swipe at Apple and a couple of other competitors that have largely stolen Microsoft's thunder in the new age of computing. Apple, Ballmer said, is about being "fashionable," while Amazon is about being "cheap," and Google is about "knowing more." Microsoft, Ballmer said, is about "doing more."

Ballmer's most recent swipes are just the latest in a string of dismissals from the Microsoft exec toward the company's rivals, even as those rivals have gone on to greater heights in the areas where they are head-to-head with Microsoft. Apple, derided as a "low-volume player" last year by Ballmer, is the most profitable firm making smartphones and tablets, which appear to be the future of popular computing. Google, too, has been the target of barbs from Ballmer, even as that company maintains a massive market share lead over Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Still, the Microsoft exec is upbeat on the company's future.

"Only our company and a handful of others are poised to write the future," he continued. "We're going to think big, we're going to bet big."

In less than a year, Ballmer will step down as Microsoft's CEO, though a successor has yet to be named. The announcement came abruptly in late August, and it has been suggested that his departure ? coming soon after Ballmer announced a reorganization of the company ? was neither as planned or smooth as the company wants it to appear.

That future will be as a devices and services company, a path solidified recently by Microsoft's $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia's cell phone business, as well as the revelation of new Surface tablet units this week.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 147
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member
    "Apple, Ballmer said, is about being "fashionable," while Amazon is about being "cheap," and Google is about "knowing more." Microsoft, Ballmer said, is about "doing more." "

    So he's saying Microsoft stands for "being unfashionable, expensive* and knowing less"

    Good heavens, I never thought I'd agree with Monkey Boy!

    *The 'expensive' isn't about the cheap crappy PCs but the enormous waste of time and money keeping the crap running.
  • Reply 2 of 147
    Did I read that right, we just bought Nokia so we are saved?
  • Reply 3 of 147
    mac_dogmac_dog Posts: 1,066member

    delusional to the last. he'd make a great politician.

  • Reply 4 of 147
    nice monkey face.
  • Reply 5 of 147
    jakebjakeb Posts: 562member
    Good luck with that. I will note that that's the same marketing angle Blackberry used on it's way out. Apple was a cool looking toy, but Blackberry was for people who got things done.
  • Reply 6 of 147
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,714member
    Quote:

     In less than a year, Ballmer will step down as Microsoft's CEO, though a successor has yet to be named. The announcement came abruptly in late August, and it has been suggested that his departure ? coming soon after Ballmer announced a reorganization of the company ? was neither as planned or smooth as the company wants it to appear


     

    In other words, Microsoft employees are frantically searching used car lots around the world looking for a suitable replacement.

  • Reply 7 of 147
    Whatever you say, pit stain...
  • Reply 8 of 147

    What is MS doing, exactly?

  • Reply 9 of 147
    By how much can something go over someone's head? Hey half wit, the ones you call "fashionable" are the ones who have created the modern desktop and notebook GUI, the modern smartphone, the modern tablet, the modern digital distribution, the modern cloud, the modern music industry and are continuing relentlessly. God, this guy is seriously delusional - so much so, he's actually funny sometimes.
  • Reply 10 of 147
    It's still his job. What else should he say?
  • Reply 11 of 147
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    I am still amaze on how what made the PC dominate just isnt working in the mobile space. Everyone had to have the same OS and everyone had to have MS office.  It looks like dev's are used to make apps for 2 OS's now, iOS and Android.

     

    I see Android getting more volume, but its also more complex with all the hardware specs. iOS is easier on the hardware specs, has less clients but they are more weathly, so more likely to buy apps and make in app purchased.

     

    Amazon is a special case, I see them move around a lot of hardware at cost for very little profits on the contents and services. On the other hand, they are bound to turn a profit, even if small.

  • Reply 12 of 147
    Always end on a high note, I suppose.
  • Reply 13 of 147
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Microsoft needs to rebound from this delusional bastard ASAP. They very well could go under if they stay on course.
  • Reply 14 of 147
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member

    Buh bye!

  • Reply 15 of 147
    Huh. Based on their track record, I thought they were more about doing less and less about doing more.
  • Reply 16 of 147
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    What's Ballmer been smoking? MS is "doing more" for landfill operators than consumers.

    MS should can his @ss now.
  • Reply 17 of 147
    MS is so far behind is so many markets, how are they ever going to change that, nobody is standing still for them to catch up. Ballmer can huff and puff all he wants, its empty words if nothing really changes, imagine when Steve Jobs went back to Apple late 90s, that he did the same without making truly difficult changes, cutting product lines to focus on a few, new product directions, move to a better computing architecture, move to a better OS architecture, find and recognize great people like Tim Cook, Jony Ive, and so many others ... I'm not going to write everyone I can think of, because I can't spell some of them :p, like Craig Fede ..., the French guy, what's his name, last OSX lead ... Anyway, MS cannot even find a suitable leader, and you know Ballmer truly wants to stay on, so he won't be helping on that in a sincere manner. the worst part is he is belittling competitors that are kicking his narrow minded, old fashioned, inflexible, unoriginal, unimaginative ass.
  • Reply 18 of 147

    Look past the condescending, misguided metaphor of "fashionable" and there is some truth to what he is saying. But you have to have the intellectual curiosity and wherewithal to look past your own biased filter, too.

  • Reply 19 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bill42 View Post



    nice monkey face.

     

    A juvenile and completely useless comment.

  • Reply 20 of 147

    Putting all the suitable jokes/insults aside. Clearly Mr. Ballmer has got completely the wrong end of the stick. Most people will not purchase products from a company that denigrates its competitors because that is interpreted as "buy our products because our competitors are fashionable, cheap or clever" however Ballmer never uses the word better. The marketplace clearly wants "fashionable, cheap or clever" and Microsoft does not produce what we the buying public want. As a U.S President once said "read my lips, give us (the buying public) what we want and can use easily not what you think we want because you do poor market research". Not all that hard to see why Ballmer is going, just a surprise it took so long!

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