{"id":491,"date":"2009-03-19T15:19:39","date_gmt":"2009-03-19T20:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/?p=491"},"modified":"2009-03-21T06:37:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-21T10:37:00","slug":"steve-ballmer-out-of-touch-with-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/steve-ballmer-out-of-touch-with-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Ballmer, out of touch with reality."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I know that I shouldn&#8217;t allow this to annoy the heck out of me, but according to several sources (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2009\/03\/19\/ballmer_mcgrawhill_iphone_comments\/\">The Register<\/a>, All Things Digital, &#038; <a href=\"http:\/\/paidcontent.org\/article\/419-ballmer-apple-is-too-expensive-for-this-economy-and-thats-why-msft-will\/\">PaidContent.org<\/a>) Steve Ballmer has done it again&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>According to Mr. Ballmer, since the iPhone uses a &#8220;expensive&#8221; capacitive touch screen, it&#8217;s too expensive.  Capacitive touch screens are still relatively new technology, but allow very precise sensing, and support multiple contacts.  Older technologies like Resistive touch screens are not precise, and don&#8217;t allow multitouch.<\/p>\n<p>Windows Mobile, for all the plans I have read about Win Mobile 7, sounds like they are trying to play catch up, with the most inexpensive components&#8230;  With a redesigned launch screen, and some extra glitter to try to make people believe that their products have improved.  But I have used BlackBerry&#8217;s, Windows Mobile 5&#038;6, Basic &#8220;stupid phones&#8221;, and the iPhone 1st Gen.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nWhile the iPhone does not yet offer all the features that some of the high end smartphones do, it generally is easier to use and a more welcome device.  There is none of the hunting to find a particular setting, and the layout is much more logical.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it&#8217;s expected that Mr. Ballmer would down play the iPhone, after all, he needs to sell Microsoft products&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Touching on the upcoming Microsoft retail stores, Ballmer said the retail outlets will serve as a &#8220;showcase&#8221; for Microsoft products rather than a direct source of sales like Apple stores.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Doesn&#8217;t anyone else understand why the Gateway stores failed?  This is just plain stupid.  The Microsoft retail stores are going to be a &#8220;showcase&#8221; for their products?  So how will you transform those now &#8220;happy shoppers&#8221; eager to buy your showcased products into purchasers?  &#8216;Walk over here and we&#8217;ll place a web order for your gizmo&#8217;?  If you don&#8217;t have stock on hand a good percentage of sales will evaporate right there.  They&#8217;ll either go to a retailer that has the product on hand, or have an opportunity to be sold on a different product.<\/p>\n<p>Assuming you can make the sale, you now have to fight Buyers Remorse, or the significant other syndrome&#8230;.  (&#8220;You purchased what!?!?!?  Cancel the order! NOW!  WE CAN&#8217;T AFFORD IT!!!&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft has a lot to learn if they are going to enter the retail business&#8230;  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know that I shouldn&#8217;t allow this to annoy the heck out of me, but according to several sources (The Register, All Things Digital, &#038; PaidContent.org) Steve Ballmer has done it again&#8230; According to Mr. Ballmer, since the iPhone uses a &#8220;expensive&#8221; capacitive touch screen, it&#8217;s too expensive. Capacitive touch screens are still relatively new <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/steve-ballmer-out-of-touch-with-reality\/\">[&hellip;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[12,23,19,11],"tags":[141,1839,110,119],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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