Apple picker Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who is working on the launch round of Windows 8 and Surface programs. On November 14th, he sat down for an interview with Reid Hoffman (the founder of LinkedIn) in Santa Clara.
TechCrunch provided an audio recording of the interview, where Ballmer is asked about the role of Windows Phone 8 in the battle between the dominant operating systems iOS and Android in the market. Ballmer laughed about the high price of iPhones in 2007, but apparently he still thinks the same about these phones. While stating that the Android ecosystem is "not always in the best interest of the consumer," Ballmer mentioned the high price of iPhones abroad:
"The Android ecosystem is a bit wild, not only in terms of application compatibility, but also in terms of malware (author's note: this is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system) and that may not be the best way to satisfy the customer's interests... on the contrary, Apple's ecosystem looks very stable , but it is quite expensive by the way. In our country (USA) you don't have to worry about it because almost every phone is subsidized. But last week I was in Russia, where you pay 1000 dollars for an iPhone... You don't sell many iPhones there... So the question is how to get quality, but not at a premium price. A stable but perhaps not so controlled ecosystem.”
Microsoft's CEO also reviewed the Windows Phone operating system. According to him, it is an ideal combination of the reliability we know from iOS, but compared to iOS, WP is not so controlled and thus combines the freedom known from Android. Among other things, Steve Ballmer stated that Microsoft's Windows Phone devices are not overpriced - unlike Apple's.
Reuters also quoted Ballmer as mentioning the possibility of incorporating the Microsoft brand into the smartphone world: “Am I to assume that our partners will get a significant share of all Windows devices over the next five years? The answer is - of course," Steve Ballmer said Wednesday at a tech industry event in Santa Clara, California. He added that there is no doubt about the possibility of innovation in the field between hardware and software, and that Microsoft can definitely take advantage of this.
Balmer is absolutely right about iPhone prices. Compared to other phones, the IP is an astronomical amount. I would say, especially in CR, on purpose, so that it contributes to the image of a luxury product.
Of course, no one has to buy it, there is a rich offer of cheaper ones. There will always be some phone that is the most expensive and some that is the cheapest. And the cheapest phone can be bought, for example, by those who are ordered by the minders to manifest their contempt for those who buy the most expensive one.
I don't mind the price of the iPhone, but what bothered me, and this applies to all smartphones I own, is the battery life. So I gave up my iPhone 3G after 4 years and bought it for a few hundred including a Nokia X1 cover :-) It lasts me just fine for 3 weeks, great LED flashlight, light, doesn't turn off in the cold... I ride it in the mountains... all I have iPhone was not allowed. It can be said that nonsense like it's expensive, etc... is out of place, the offer is extremely wide, everyone can find what they need.
In addition, the iPhone is simply a piece of HW, the luxury is iOS and the App Store... but no one adds that to the price. I guess how to compare the price of a PC with Windows and Mac :-) they are also for astronomical amounts……
Oh yeah. I would take a Nokia with iOS for the price of a Nokia :-D. It's just expensive and that's just a fact. It's simply overpriced for a phone/communicator. Alas, I need that ecosystem. The operator's prices are just as stupid, if I didn't have a company price, I would probably go and bid before CTU.
I don't mind the price of the iPhone, but what bothered me, and this applies to all smartphones I own, is the battery life. So I gave up my iPhone 3G after 4 years and bought it for a few hundred including a Nokia X1 cover :-) It lasts me just fine for 3 weeks, great LED flashlight, light, doesn't turn off in the cold... I ride it in the mountains... all I have iPhone was not allowed. It can be said that nonsense like it's expensive, etc... is out of place, the offer is extremely wide, everyone can find what they need.
In addition, the iPhone is simply a piece of HW, the luxury is iOS and the App Store... but no one adds that to the price. I guess how to compare the price of a PC with Windows and Mac :-) they are also for astronomical amounts……
Economically, the law of supply and demand. It sells very well for its price, so why should they sell it cheaper? Do you deliberately try to earn as little as possible in your company?
I absolutely agree. You hit the nail on the head, you write cursing operators rather than apple, but that doesn't help us anyway :(
Just for fun. In Germany, t-mobile IP5 offers 16 GB for EUR 99 with a monthly payment of EUR 65 and a two-year contract. I spend around EUR 100 per month here at the Czech t-mobile and they offered it to me for about CZK 12000. That's quite a difference isn't it?
are you ready
Of course, the prices to the west of us (but unfortunately also to the east - Slovakia) are much more favorable - it's just that in CR everyone feels that we have to pay something extra... it's like that with everything... including fuel... CR sucks :-(
I'm a Ballmer so I'm careful what I say. The most expensive phones with WP on Alza cost almost 15k, while the iPhone 5 costs 16,5k, and I think that is a difference that anyone will wave their hand over (in addition, I take 16GB of internal memory and it is the same for both). The cheapest device with iOS, so the iPhone 4 8GB is for 9,5k and the cheapest WP phone with 8GB of memory is for 3,8k, so there is a difference here, but for that price I will get a significantly worse phone without a retina display and with lower performance, but I will buy it relatively cheap. So I dare say that Ballmer was a little bit right, but to get a really good phone with WP you don't pay much less than for an iPhone. In addition, I defend the prices of the iPhone with the words "Why should Apple make the iPhone cheaper when even with the current pricing policy it does not have time to produce and sell millions of units?" ;) howg ;)