Microsoft Exec: 6.9 million iPhone 3Gs? Pfft, so what?
In the past few days, the Internet has been set ablaze by news of the iPhone’s success, AT&T’s suffering profits because of it, and all the Apple gloaters doin’ they thang. Well, in other news, a particular executive over at Microsoft is taking a cue from Steve Ballmer and is acting all unimpressed after having had a bottle full of Haterade. Robbie Bach, who runs the Entertainment & Devices division of MS, which includes all WinMo devices, says that this sort of thing was to be expected. “Apple had a big launch of a new product, and they launched at scale in a lot of new countries with a lot of new [wireless] operators. This quarter, RIMM is having its big launch, and at some point we’ll have our big launch. We’ll have to see where things normalize,” says Bach. That statement is more or less true, but way to steal Apple’s thunder and be a buzzkill, Robbie! Again, like Ballmer, Bach says that the iPhone is great and all, but WinMo is on far more devices and far more diverse and apparently people prefer having an army of mundane options over one revolutionary device (yeah, we said that, bring it on). Will Apple continue its momentum? What Bach is forgetting is this success hit not just at any time, but during major global economic problems. People are bitchin’ about gas prices but are still buying the iPhone in droves. Think about it. How many people have you seen who couldn’t afford a ham sandwich rockin’ iPhone 3Gs? Exactly.
*what Windows Mobile can do
Posted from BGR Mobile on iPhone from: Click here to set location…
There are over 14,000 iPhones being used on the internal MSFT campus by employees. This is a hard fact that is hidden from the outside world and comes directly from the corporate vp who owns IT at MSFT. Apple has to be doing something right!
I used to be a Windows Mobile fan until I had to reset my damn device several times a day. I switched over to what I thought I’d never switch to…the BB. Never looked back.
The article is the very reason why MS continues to slip in a variety of areas, trying to be everything to everyone. If they made a solid OS for the phone, I’d probably still be using it. I actually like the layout better than any other out there, but those damn crashes. Can’t have that on a busy day at work.
Just another example where MSFT fell short and now they are running there mouth about it…
BLAH BLAH BLAH, put me to sleep!
It’s simple, microsoft is scare of the iphone, and why you my ask? well although the iPhone is buggy as hell still, it’s getting better & better and everytime Apple get’s a new customer that customer won’t be switching anytime soon, so take it from there, if your thinking that windows mobile can do more than the iphone you must be dreaming, my iphone has about 100+ good apps install and some really nice games and Dude the phone still acts the same way as if i had just 1 app install, try installing more than 3 apps bigger than 10 Meg on a windows mobile phone lol, see what happens, i also have 3 email accounts set up and over 1000 songs and 5 full lengh movies and it’s all working fine
Funny… Marc got owned by @Közjegyző. Just the fact that Marc thinks that the iPhone app store has MORE apps than Windows Mobile is hysterical. The Windows Mobile platform in all its different forms has been out for over 8 years.
In fact, just checked Handango.com. Looks like they list 21,763 titles available for Windows Mobile. And that’s only on Handango. 21,763 > 5,500. Marc, did you pass 3rd grade Math?
So, in other words, the Microsoft exec is 100% correct thinking that they have nothing to worry about regarding a threat from the iPhone. The iPhone is an infant compared to Windows Mobile.
How do you like them “Apples”, Marc?
Here’s the breakdown for anyone interested…can’t argue the numbers for now.
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=754112
@Ryan
Owned? Hardly. His response did nothing buy dodge my argument because there’s nothing to be said about Windows Mobile in comparison with the iPhone platform. If anything, he confused devices with operating systems. 8 years on the market and it’s still crashing and buggy as ever? Wow, what prompted you to brag about that?
Posted from BGR Mobile on iPhone from: Glendale CA, 91204
Have you SEEN the price of Ham Sandwiches lately?!
And for all those WinMo lovers out there. Windows mobile is old, archaic and bloated. Apple’s Operating System (I’m purposely not calling it Mac OS X) isn’t perfect and they left out some crucial features like Copy/Paste, Video Recording & MMS.
However, Apple’s iPhone software is at version 2.2 and Windows Mobile is at 6.1, yet how much of a complete failure was the first Windows CE? Apple released a revolutionary User Interface that spun the mobile environment around. Overnight, people were copying the design.
Sure the iPhone is FAR from perfect, but in terms of a multifunctional mobile platform its light years ahead of everything else.
Microsoft’s nonchalant dismissive answer is just how far their heads are up their asses in terms of writing a streamlined and efficient Operating System.
That’s quite a lot of iPhone 3Gs we have out there. But my question is – why? My W300i actually does more then the iPhone or the 3G.
Copy/Paste – check
Multimedia Messaging (pics, music, some documents) – check
Bluetooth profile that allows file transfers of any kind from my phone to a PC or another bluetooth phone – check.
If you want to bluetooth a contact over to another phone, iPhone won’t let you. A freaking contact!!?? Get real, even the Newton let’s you do that over infrared!!
Take a picture of your motorcycle with Niagra Falls in the background and then MMS it to all your friends…..with an iPhone you are out of luck buddy. You can’t even recieve pictures that your friends take on their cell phones.
THe iPhone will not let you transfer or recieve any file or piece of information unless it’s passed through iTunes between the computer and phone. Stupidity.
My point is this, the iPhone 3G is a seriously hobbled cell phone and does less of what smaller more basic phones do. Yet people are snatching them in droves. Why??????
My iPhone locks up just as often as my 8525 did
, Safari crashes more that Skyfire, and sending a text and backing back to send another text to a different people locks up my iPhone 70% of the time.
LOL I didn’t own Marc nor dodged him. Sure the post was long, maybe he got lost
Marc I know the difference between a device and an OS. Too bad that Apple has not made different handsets so you could make a true comparison. It would be nice to see how the Apple OS fairs on for example an HTC device.
The iPhone is 1 device (why separate the 3g and the old one both are virtually the same) running it’s own OS. Symbian rules the world for now. Numbers are objective
RIM has the enterprise market in it’s grasps for now. But back to topic I still have to agree with the MS guys that they don’t have to fear the iPhone any time soon. I would rather be worried by Android in their place. And Apple should be doing that too. Sure the G1 is an ugly baby, but the HTC Touch HD and the Quartz are better then the iPhone in every way with WinMo, now add that they are getting Android!
And that’s just 2 new devices that are better looking and will have smarter OSs then the iPhone…
I predict that Europe will go for them since the iPhone is not so hot here as over the pond. Fortunately we have more carriers to choose from here and 3G actually works everywhere.
If your iPhone locks up that much you either A.) Jailbroke it badly or B.) Your phone is bad.
You can send contacts over bluetooth. When I paired my iPhone with my car, the in-car system got all of my contacts automatically. File transfer over bluetooth is useless and Big Content said noway jose.
@ Marc…you should’ve said Windows Mobile vs. the mobile Mac platform, rather than the Windows Mobile vs. the Iphone…the iPhone is not a platform. And you guys can say all you want about how Windows Mobile has been out for 8 years and it is still buggy as ever and what not. Well the iPhone has been out for two years, please tell me the difference between the iPhone and the iPhone 3G…anyone? All the features missing in the original is still missing in the 2nd itineration so it’s not like Apple is making leaps and bounds here. All Mobile OSs become stagnant after a while, just take a look at Palm as well as Symbian…even Blackberry OSs receive complaints about how there aren’t any major changes since its inception. The fact of the matter is that Apple had 8 years worth of mistakes to learn from and they are still making some so no one is perfect. I would say that Android even had a better year out the gate than the iPhone in terms of functionality. For you to sit her and claim that the iPhone is better than Windows Mobile is absurd because when you look at features wise it is not the case. And the iPhone drops calls, crashes and is also slow just like Windows Mobile is for some users…we all have different experiences but at their current stages Windows Mobile is simply better.
Actually, let me rephrase it a bit. If I have a contact or a group of contacts on my bluetooth cell phone, and want to bluetooth those contacts over to an iPhone….can’t. Or if an iPhone has a group of contacts that wanted to be bluetoothed over to me….can’t. I had to take my friend’s contacts (including the contact pics) from her old Palm Treo phone and copy them over to her laptop and into iTunes and then let itunes sync the contacts and the pics over to the iPhone and then she had to go to each contact and re-add the person’s pic. What a freaking mess.
I took my Palm Zire 71 and all it’s contacts with associated pics, synced contacts up with my W300i via bluetooth, opened up the phone and all contacts with the person’s pics were there and done and done.
The iPhone is a piece of garbage. The on-screen keyboard is a mess. Yeah, most one screen keyboard’s are fugly, but at least most others allow you to configure the type and either landscape or horizontal. iPhone is nada in that category.
@Marc: Dodge your argument? I think he took you head on and let’s just say you didn’t look too bright coming out of it. You sound just like a typical Apple fanboy that never seem to think you’re actually wrong (who by the way is posting from his iPhone… go figure)! And “nothing to be said about Windows Mobile in comparison with the iPhone platform”??!!?? Again, hysterical.
The bottom line is that the only thing that Apple’s glorified MP3 player has going for it is its UI or usability. That’s easy to concede.
Unfortunately for you, in every other category it loses to REAL smartphones (you know, smartphones that can run background processes) running Symbian and Windows Mobile. No contest.
Man, where does Boy Genius find these guys? You never get such flaming fanboyism on Engadget Mobile.
Funny how BGR was so quick to report Mac OSX as having a 5.3% marketshare in the smartphone arena but hasn’t bother to mention it’s current share which has dropped to 2.8%, while Microsoft’s remains at 12% with a 20 percent increase year over year. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=754112
I must second WinMo opinions: it can do everything iPhone can (and just as well), but iPhone cannot do many of the WinMo tasks (way too many).
GUI? WinMo can be customized in a matter of minutes to look identical to iPhone. Plus, it will have many other additional features. However, when it comes to seamless sync, push-email with exchange, Office mobile, millions of apps and full-blown games, there is no better OS than WinMo. And if GUI is an issue, go to xda developers and download any WinMo gui you like for free (HTC, WinMo 7 themes, others).
@Marc Flores
Are you playing a retard because you’re bored or something? The advantages of WinMo that have been repeatedly listed have to do with the abilities of the OS and not hardware. What exactly don’t you understand? Fanboy much?
1. Background processes are a function of software, not hardware.
2. Switching between concurrently running applications is a function of software, not hardware.
3. Task manager is a function of software, not hardware.
4. File explorer is a function of software, not hardware.
5. Copy/paste is a function of software, not hardware.
6. MMS is a function of software, not hardware.
7. Homescreen customization is a function of software, not hardware.
8. Background wallpaper is a function of software, not hardware.
Jesus Christ Marc, get off the short bus already. You’re right that WinMo is still unstable after close to a decade. Yes that is shameful on Microsoft’s part. They’ve been busy minting money from the corporate and consumer space that they never gave a crap about the mobile space, until now thanks to Apple. WinMo 7 should change that. How ignorant do you have to be to think that there are more iPhone apps available than WinMo apps? Unlike WinMo, the vast majority of iPhone apps are pathetic, gimmicky, and pointless. Flashlight, light saber et al., are you kidding me? Yes there are some cool apps available, but unfortunately not enough. Having a one-stop-shop store is definitely a convenience, albeit a minor one, but unsurprisingly Apple runs it like a fascist dictator. Not to mention being forced to use iTunes on Windows *shudder*. It’s absolutely pathetic on Apple’s part for purposely not optimizing iTunes (and Safari) for Windows and then have the nerve to blame Microsoft. Surely Apple must be holding out, what with their mad software skills and all. Apple doesn’t have to worry about a myriad hardware configurations. Could things be any easier? They zealously control the entire iPhone platform (hardware and software) with an iron fist, and yet they’re more nervous about 3rd-party background processes than a virgin about to pop her cherry. No but please bow down to the almighty stripped-down mobile OS X because we’re definitely not worthy. Puhlease. Moreover, their single-process system freezes and crashes plenty. I speak from personal hands-on experience, but don’t take my word for it. Just scour all the Mac blogs and forums that are abuzz with such problems.
Apple has always been about style and image. They’re hands down the coolest no doubt. The iPhone is definitely eye candy. The only impressive thing Apple has introduced with the iPhone though is a fun and usable touchscreen interface for the first time. Touchscreens have been around for a while, but their usability has always been abysmal. Now thanks to Apple, and I highly applaud them for that, the entire mobile industry has opened their eyes to see that there is indeed a benefit (and huge market) for phones with big touchscreens minus a gazillion buttons, as long as the UI is actually usable. Great job Apple for invigorating the competition. Blackberry, Android, WinMo, and Symbian are all waking up and improving now as a direct response to the iPhone. That is very impressive Apple. Having said all that, the iPhone OS (not hardware) has many limitations, and you fanboys (including you too Marc Flores) should not sugarcoat them. The iPhone OS is definitely more fun and usable (for internet browsing, media, and entertainment), but absolutely in no way more functional than WinMo (for business and overall functionality). Remember I’m talking about rich feature set, not memory or stability issues. It is what it is, just be objective for once and admit it.
Disclaimers:
1. I own both the iPhone and iPhone 3G.
2. I’ve owned multiple Blackberry devices and highly anticipate the Storm.
3. I’ve owned multiple WinMo devices.
4. I’m not a Microsoft fanboy, and I’m not even a fan of WinMo.
The iphone gets on a lot of people’s blood boiling, it’s just a phone dudes. Get a life.
Well said Prof. Moriarty. Now that is pure ownage. I have seen some of the WinMo 7 pictures and features and it sounds very cool. I can’t wait to get the Storm though.
I love Haterade.
Look. I am so disappointed in my iPhone I could slap you guys on here. I spent all of this money and lost all of my functionality of my BlackBerry. I should have stuck with the pearl at this rate. No push email. No turn by turn. No background apps. Dropped Calls. Bad reception. Lack of response to development requests from users. The list could go on and on. I am tired of people calling this a revolutionary device. It is beta at best. It looks good – and that is it. You’re site’s constant Boner for the iPhone is turning me off to your site completely. You have to be posting half of the ridicules love stories for the iPhone just to spark comments. But your creditability is now zero with anyone that is a follower of your posted stories. At least everyone I know that looked at your site. Good luck in future endeavors – PLEASE!!! If I wanted crap I’d look at news sites.
@ Jeff…my sentiments exactly…still a BGR fan though.