As Steve Ballmer revealed that Microsoft sold 4 million upgrades of its new Windows 8 operating system in its first four days, he continued onward to dismiss Apple as a “low-volume” player in markets like PCs and smartphones. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, when asked if he would like Microsoft to evolve to Apple’s business model, where the company controls both the hardware and software, Ballmer said he prefers to stay with Microsoft’s business model. He did concede that their model was “evolving” with devices like the new Surface tablet though.
According to Ballmer, “in every category Apple competes, it’s the low volume player, except in tablets. In the PC Market, obviously the advantage of diversity has mattered since 90-something percent of PCs that get sold are Windows PCs. We’ll see what winds up mattering in tablets.”
In the United States, Apple’s iPhone accounts for about a third of all smartphones in use, while Google’s Android platform is on more than 50% of handsets. Microsoft’s mobile platform only accounted for 3.6% of smartphone subscribers according to comScore’s September report. As for the Mac, Apple has seen its share in the PC market increase continuously as it has repeatedly outgrown the PC market. The latest data issued earlier in the month gave Apple nearly 14% of the U.S. PC market.
Microsoft is probably hoping to counter some of the success Apple’s Mac platform has had with its new Windows 8 operating system, which was released last week. Ballmer recently revealed at Microsoft’s Build event on Tuesday that sales of Windows 8 upgrades reached a whopping 4 million in the first four days.
As far as the iPad goes, even Ballmer had no choice but to admit that Apple carries the lion’s share of the tablet market. The latest figures reveal that the iPad accounts for more than 60% of all tablets sold worldwide – a number that is likely to increase with the upcoming release of the iPad mini.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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