After
the launch of Apple's iPhone in 2007, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
famously dismissed the threat that the smartphone could have on the
market or its impact on Microsoft's then popular Windows Mobile
operating system.
"There's
no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market
share. No chance," remarked Ballmer in a 2007
interview with USA
Today.
"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."
Three
years later, and quite a few "price breaks" later, Apple's
iPhone is doing quite well and is gobbling up a significant
portion of the smartphone market. The iPhone (and by association,
its iPod touch sibling) has also been buoyed by Apple's App Store
which recently
crossed the three billion downloads threshold.
While
Steve Ballmer may have been apprehensive about the iPhone at first,
he is giving credit where credit is due when it comes to the highly
successful App Store. During a recent speaking engagement at the
University of Washington, Ballmer noted that, "Apple's done a
very nice job that allows people to monetize and commercialize their
intellectual property."
Taken
at face value, the comment could easily be brushed aside, but there
have been reports that Apple and Microsoft are in talks to have Bing
replace Google as the default search engine on the iPhone and
iPod touch. As most of you already know, Google and Apple have a
rocky
relationship
right now; so kind words from Microsoft's head honcho could help ease
any tension that may still be present between the boys from Cupertino
and the boys from Redmond.
"This
inconvenient truth could lead to unusual changes in the tech-industry
climate this year and force people to reconsider their
preconceptions," stated
Seattle
Times
staff columnist Brier Dudley.
"Microsoft and Apple always have had a love-hate relationship
that's much deeper and more complicated than the Hatfield-McCoy
sniping their fans engage in."
Even
though an Apple-Microsoft friendship could be budding, Microsoft
isn't standing still when it comes to the smartphone market. The
software giant is casting aside its Windows Mobile 6.x platform to
focus its energy on the slick-looking
Windows Phone 7 Series platform.