Ballmer channels 1985, suggests Apple split iPhone hardware and OS

Hum! Desperate are we? I have both a Windoze Mobile 6.1 handset and an iPhone.

Well lets just say that it is easier for me to have a root canal than to use my Windoze Mobile 6.1 handset. The only reason I have it is that my company gives it to me and I have to use it.

Now what would be really really cool is that other phone manufacturers like Motorola and Nokia start using iPhone OS instead of Windoze Mobile 6.1.

Isn't this 7-minute statement in complete contrast to what Ballmer stated here:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/24/microsoft_sets_sights_on_providing_an_apple_like_experience.html

Not that that was an original question:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/09/26/ballmer_changes_tune_while_dancing_around_apples_success.html

One thing I appreciate about the Apple experience is that either the OS was written for the hardware or the hardware was chosen for the OS. I do not have to worry like I do with Android's "open" experience about the handset I buy because I know that this Mac and its software are "meant" for each other.

Ballmer believes differently and yet according to the links provided above, at the same time he agrees with me. Neither he or Christina Warren (a commenter on the previous page) mention any sort of reason why they believe that splitting the OS from the hardware is necessary.

One cannot cite Microsoft's market share as a reasoning why to follow Ballmer's advice. Apple is not trying to be like Microsoft. They are profitable otherwise. They do not feel the need to compare. They are being Apple, not imitators of Microsoft. Microsoft on the other hand is continuing to look in the rear-view mirror at Apple, wondering why Apple is catching up and how they can replicate Apple's success. Maybe Apple is just being Apple, integrated OS-hardware and all.

Computers have reached such high computing powers that it's not about hardware anymore. The Internet makes software even more important - and hardware even less important. It is device independent.

It is about Software ( and interface, respectively).

Who ever has the best software wins.
And Apple know that a decade ago, already.

Right now, and in the future, their wise decision in that regard will pay out.

It's about Software. And for good software you got to control the hardware.
That is a lesson painfully learned over decades now.

Also: Balmer is just the idiot I believed him to be - see also his comments about Android. Who doesn't get that he's just helplessly trying to calm down investors, stock holders?

I didn't read the whole article, but what makes the iPhone appealing to me is the fact that the iPhone software is on hardware that specifically accommodates it. Apple's hardware and software works so well together, and that's what makes it so attractive to use. Features flow and it's a great product overall.

Ballmer's reasoning is also what makes Android so unappealing to me. The hardware android will be distributed on will be so diverse, that results will vary. There's no end-all definitive solution like there is with the iPhone.

I don't have an iPhone yet, but I will be purchasing one within the next several months, when my current contact with Sprint-Nextel expires.

Yeah, that'll happen as soon as Microsoft splits their OS and desktop software.

And how well did that work for Palm. When they spilt the company, to software, and hardware it all went downhill from there.

Ballmer is an idiot that couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag. Too bad he'll be MS CEO as long as Gates is alive.

He's talking market share. Its not about market share, and Microsoft's stock price reflects that. Market share isn't everything and Apple's been significantly profitable with under 10% market share. Its all about what is best for Apple to make money, under Jobs' direction they will continue to do so. Besides that small market share has allowed them to continually innovate and be ahead of the game. Keeping the hardware and software together doesn't look so bad now...

The most important reason that Microsoft is loosing market share is that they get drowned in their different versions of OS and huge amounts of drivers for each different hardware device they "support". It's impossible to keep up a decent after sales support to such a huge different configurations.

That is why Apple is gaining market share "TODAY", 10 years ago this was not an issue, today it is, since customers want EASY technology.

It is not a surprise that Nokia is also going to integrate Hardware with their own software services. (they just dropped Blackberry support)

Only then you can control and give decent after sales support.

Of course if you have 80% market share that isn't changing overnight.
Windows will have to adapt to this new vision. The globalisation with less hardware manufacturers is going to help them with fighting this challenge.

I think it is in Apple's interests to tie the phone and software together. I bought my first Mac around 3 years ago solely because of my experience with the iPod and iTunes on Windows. To say that is stupid because Apple has been very successful in tying hardware to software in order to improve the user experience.

I think there are two reasons why the iPhone has not attracted a larger market - its price (and contract price) and the lack of choice in service providers. I think issues with the phone and software (e.g. no video capture) have had a much smaller impact.