Reply to: Ballmer slams android

[lilelvis2000]

Steve Ballmer isn't known for having his finger on the pulse. A few years ago he was laughing at the iPhone for being expensive.

hee hee I bet Mr. Jobs laughed all the way to the bank too. Say, isn't that Nortel on the screen behind him. He sure is good picking partners this Ballmer chap.

[d000hg]

Actually I'm not even sure anyone knows - it's a whole bunch of patents MS claim are infringed and I believe (happy to be corrected if anyone has a link) the phone manufacturers stump up rather than go to court... notably Google doesn't step in to protect/support their partners.

[russell]

MS charge a patent 'tax' on Android though. I have £30/handset in my head but that could be way off.

I wonder what the patent is, does android bsod?

[d000hg]

MS charge a patent 'tax' on Android though. I have £30/handset in my head but that could be way off.

[xoggoth]

It's interesting that Android has got such a massive amount of the market

Probably because there are few restrictions on developers, they only pay 1/3rd to Google but most of all, many manufacturers making them, so the hardware is cheap. Paid £29.99 for my phone and a few weeks later I could have got it for £19.99. How much us the cheapest Iphone or Blackberry?

[escapeUK]

Good argument. That means Windows is much better than MacOSX, and loads better than Linux?

Yes on both counts.

[d000hg]

No doubt you also predicted Bing taking over from Google.

If you've nothing sensible to say how about sodding off back to General and leave the serious conversations for the grown-ups. There's a good boy.

[TheFaQQer]

Steve Ballmer isn't known for having his finger on the pulse. A few years ago he was laughing at the iPhone for being expensive.

He was right, though - it is expensive.

[Bunk]

Steve Ballmer isn't known for having his finger on the pulse. A few years ago he was laughing at the iPhone for being expensive.

[TheFaQQer]

If you get comfortable with the way a phone works, then it's difficult for a relative newcomer to break into that.

I've had an Android phone since I got the G1 when they first became generally available. I use Google Apps for my business email, documents and calendar. I use Gmail for my personal mail and Google calendar for my personal calendar. When I get a new phone, there's no problems with migration or anything like that - Market automatically keeps track of the Apps I've downloaded, so I just need to hit a button and download them again.

Switching to a Windows phone isn't going to be easy - I'm too comfortable with the OS that I like. The Windows offering would have to be fantastic to get someone who has used Android for a while to consider switching. I've switched manufacturer a three times over four phones with Android (Google to HTC to Samsung), so am not averse to change, but I don't think I could consider a switch to MS just because of the hassle of trying to find replacements for the things I know I use and like.

[russell]

Thats going to pee of Nokia somewhat!

Im sure they are peed off plenty when they look at their share prices over the last few years from 38 to 6.

[Spacecadet]

the Windows 7 phone has already flopped, they will kill it by end of next year.

Thats going to pee of Nokia somewhat!

[russell]

But people don't especially choose Android - they choose not to have an iPhone and then choose the handset they want. So if MS have decent handsets and a decent UI, they can get in. As long as it does email, web-browsing, music playing and Angry Birds the majority don't care. Things like Skype/Facebook integration (MS are tight with FB) are also pluses whereas Android is rather amorphous.

No doubt you also predicted Bing taking over from Google.

[russell]

I remember everyone saying that MS didn't have a chance in the console market, everyone was a Playstation, Sega or Nintendo fan and there seemed to be just no room or need for another player. They got there on quality of the platform and a large existing base of PC developers. Same for WP7 I reckon.

Fragmentation will be Androids demise, Apple & MS have put strict hardware & software requirements in place for their platforms to ensure everything works for everyone.

If you look at Android phone reviews now, its all, handset x has full access to the market, handset y has no market access at all, handset z has limited market access but we couldn't get apps a, b & c to run etc etc.

That's what they said with Kin and the Zune, the Windows 7 phone has already flopped, they will kill it by end of next year. The Zune also got good reviews but it was too little to late.

[d000hg]

Too late, the market will be split between Android and iOS.

But people don't especially choose Android - they choose not to have an iPhone and then choose the handset they want. So if MS have decent handsets and a decent UI, they can get in. As long as it does email, web-browsing, music playing and Angry Birds the majority don't care. Things like Skype/Facebook integration (MS are tight with FB) are also pluses whereas Android is rather amorphous.