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View Full Version : What's Your Take on Ballmer's Zune Phone Comments?

Aaron Roma
05-04-2007, 01:54 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2007-04-29-ballmer-ceo-forum-usat_N.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2007-04-29-ballmer-ceo-forum-usat_N.htm</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>&quot;Q: When can we look forward to a Zune phone?</em></p><p><em>A: It's not a concept you'll ever get from us. We're in the Windows Mobile business. We wouldn't define our phone experience just by music. A phone is really a general purpose device. You want to make telephone calls, you want to get and receive messages, text, e-mail, whatever your preference is. The phone really is kind of a general purpose device that we need to have clean and easy to use. &quot;</em></p><p><em></em></p><p>Despite rampant <a target="_blank" href="http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/showthread.php?t=866&amp;highlight=phone">rumors</a>&nbsp;of an impending Zune phone, even dating prior to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&amp;sid=a6kJgarwWLeg">before the initial Zune launch</a>, Steve Ballmer has recently nay-sayed that idea in a USA Today interview.&nbsp; Does Ballmer's comments mean we will never see a Zune Phone device?&nbsp; Maybe Microsoft has decided to play a wait-and-see game with the iPhone and judge its success before jumping on the band wagon.&nbsp; Or maybe his comments indicate Microsoft doesn't intend to produce a dedicated Zune Phone device, but rather they are looking at adding a software based Zune &quot;client&quot; to their existing or future Smartphone devices.&nbsp; What are your thoughts on Ballmer's Zune Phone comments?</p>
Sage
05-04-2007, 02:32 PM
I dislike Steve Ballmer. He's not a good figure head for Microsoft and spouts nonsense on a regular basis. It's best to ignore him.

Asked about the iPhone, he replied (http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2007-04-29-ballmer-ceo-forum-usat_N.htm):

"A: It's sort of a funny question. Would I trade 96% of the market for 4% of the market? (Laughter.) I want to have products that appeal to everybody.

Now we'll get a chance to go through this again in phones and music players. There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get."

Steve - Windows Mobile, even by Microsoft's own projections for 2008, is expected to have less than a 2% share of the market. This is after 7+ years of continuous investment and development. Why are you ridiculing Apple for achieving the same in just one year?

Hopefully J Allard will get promoted to CEO eventually and Ballmer will retire to a nice island somewhere out of the way. :)
samirsshah
05-04-2007, 03:11 PM
Zune phone is inevitable, the sooner the better for Microsoft.

Going by current statements of Microsoft executives about iPhone, Microsoft is in a big denial.

Steve Jobs is a serial enterprenuer and CEO rolled into one. Anything coming from him should be taken with utmost seriousness.

iPhone is not about hardware. It is all about software and user interface. It is a paradigm shift from mouse-cursor user interface to touch user interface.

With Mac, the world moved away from command line to graphical user interface. Apple did not capitalize on it that time and Micorosft won with Windows.

This is Steve Jobs's second chance, do you think he will blow it the second time?

The two failure points for iPhone are 1) Price and 2) Touch interface requiring haptic feedback. Now, Microsoft can daydream that one of these two happens.
David Tucker
05-04-2007, 04:09 PM
I dislike Steve Ballmer. He's not a good figure head for Microsoft and spouts nonsense on a regular basis. It's best to ignore him.

Asked about the iPhone, he replied (http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2007-04-29-ballmer-ceo-forum-usat_N.htm):

"A: It's sort of a funny question. Would I trade 96% of the market for 4% of the market? (Laughter.) I want to have products that appeal to everybody.

Now we'll get a chance to go through this again in phones and music players. There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get."

Steve - Windows Mobile, even by Microsoft's own projections for 2008, is expected to have less than a 2% share of the market. This is after 7+ years of continuous investment and development. Why are you ridiculing Apple for achieving the same in just one year?

Hopefully J Allard will get promoted to CEO eventually and Ballmer will retire to a nice island somewhere out of the way. :)

I see no way that Apple gets that 2% or 3% marketshare in a year. Not going to be close either. MS projects to sell 20 million licensed devices in the fiscal year starting July 1st. They've experienced 100% growth every year for 4 years now.

I personally think the iPhone goal of 10 million devices is insane and will not be reached. The recent Markitecture poll of US cellphone owners said that 6% intend to buy one. The problem is no data is given on what provider these people are with. I find it hard to believe that of Cingular's 60 million customers, a full 17% are going to be using the top of the line phone.

The Razr, it has been said, achieved 2%-3% market saturation at its height. And this is a phone that was available on many carriers. It really took off when the price came down. (ahem) Some people may switch carriers to get the iPhone but there are MANY factors that go into a decision like that. I'm on TMo because my family is and many of my friends are. I wouldn't want to switch.
Sage
05-04-2007, 04:28 PM
I personally think the iPhone goal of 10 million devices is insane and will not be reached. The recent Markitecture poll of US cellphone owners said that 6% intend to buy one. The problem is no data is given on what provider these people are with. I find it hard to believe that of Cingular's 60 million customers, a full 17% are going to be using the top of the line phone.

Without trying to get too off topic, I assume their target is 10 million devices world-wide. Although the initial offering is exclusive to AT&T, there's already talk of a 3G model for Europe and Asia by fall. High end multimedia phones sell very well in Europe and Asia. If Symbian can sell 40-50 million smartphones a year (http://www.canalys.com/pr/2007/r2007024.htm) (most of which are consumer-orientated multimedia phones) then is 10 million iPhones really that overly optimistic?
LPD
05-04-2007, 08:43 PM
Everyone will talk about the iPhone but few are going to spend $500 (plus added monthly data services) on a cell phone. Other similar phones for less will be out shortly.

Back on topic, Microsoft is NOT going to make a Zune Phone. Not going to happen. Even Bach confirmed it this week in his interview with ComputerWorld. Expect to see Zune added to Windows Mobile and other communication devices running on MS software. Don't expect MS to piss-off all the cell phone makers and kill their existing relationships.

Most peopel are not aware of it but Microsoft has provided software to several cell phone makers. These are private label deals and you would never know it by using the phones. Bottom line, Microsoft has more cell phone software out there than you see as "Windows Mobile". Additionally, on the backend of cell networks there is MS software running that feed media to Verizon customers.
bleeman
05-05-2007, 11:07 PM
Personally, I hope a Zune phone never happens. I like my Zune for what it is. A great little media player. I'm really getting tired of everything trying to be all things to all people. I wish businesses would focus on what they do best and not try so hard to cover everything under the sun.

A perfect case in point, I still recall about 5 years ago when I had to pull to special order parking at a Mcdonald's. Why? Because I had the nerve to order a hamburger, fries, and a Coke. I mean, what was I thinking? Oh well, I then headed off to the grocery store so I could put some gas in my truck. :D

What I want is for the Zune team to focus on is giving us support for Podcasts, WiFi download capability etc. Let the Windows Mobile team focus on phone market.