Ballmer on the smartphone market

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Interesting to see CNET interviewing Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer: "When it comes to smart devices, there really aren't that many players. Basically, you have Nokia/Symbian, you've got us." Read on for the full quote....

Continues.....

"Actually, I'll be so bold as to say that the two of us stand out in that area. Then you have some guys who are more niche players--Palm is more of a niche player, (Research In Motion's) BlackBerry is more of a niche player, those Linux devices from Motorola, particularly in China, (mean it) is more of a niche player.

You have some things intermediate between dumb and smart devices--kind of the J2ME-type phones--but when you talk about real smart devices, there's really two guys who I think are broad frontline players and have most of the share. It often surprises people when we tell them how much we outsell BlackBerry. BlackBerry, because they are more popular in the United States, people assume that they're quite popular. The truth of the matter is we actually outsell BlackBerry many factors to one, that's worldwide, yeah, absolutely."

Well, ok. Though it would surprise people even more if you admitted that 'Nokia/Symbian' actually outsell Microsoft and Windows Mobile many times to one, in turn...... 8-)

Read the full interview here.

Steve