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Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer who is frustrated that he does not have a seat at the top end of the smartphone or tablet table has come out swinging at Android and Apple’s iOS.
Speaking at a round table event Balmer who is also struggling to get traction for his new Windows 8 OS blasted the Android ecosystem as uncontrolled. He also took a swipe at Apple’s ecosystem describing it as expensive and tightly controlled.
He said: “The ecosystem of the Android is a little bit wild, that is from an app compatibility perspective and our world perspective maybe in a way that’s not always in the consumer’s best interests.
“Conversely the Apple ecosystem looks highly controlled, and, by the way, quite high priced.”
As telc’s around the world struggle to attract consumers to the Windows smartphone OS Ballmer said that he hopes Windows Phone will slowly claim a significant proportion of the market.
He said: “The challenge is to get 10 percent of the smartphone market, and then 15 percent, and then 20 percent. We aren’t trying to get to 60 percent overnight.”
“The question is how you get the quality with maybe not the premium price of the phone, with maybe not quite as controlled an ecosystem. And how do you allow for the lower price points, more affordability, diversity that comes with Android”
“And I think you can say that’s kind of the best of both worlds and that’s available to us.” he added.
Ballmer maintained that phone operators, who pay for most of the phones, want three companies.
He said: “On the high end, they have Apple and Samsung and a sea at the low-end.
“We have a customer set that wants an alternative, and it’s a different opportunity strategically.”
Ballmer launched the attack while being interviewed by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman at an event with “tech influencers and innovators” at the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California.
