Ballmer Makes Fun of iPhone-touting Employee

That is an awfully bold move by the employee, seems like he was trying to provoke a response rather then just take a picture. Glad Ballmer didn't crush the iphone though. Would have looked really bad.

Hahaha man I like Ballmer

Having a competing companies product at a company meeting probably wasn't the smartest move for the employee.. Although it would seem Ballmer kept his cool..

I make fun of my friends who have iPhones too. Talk about lemmings. This doesn't really surprise me, I'm glad MS can joke about it in front of the media.

that picture needs a 'wassssssuppppp!' caption in it... i know it was annoying from the commercials but that picture is just screaming it!

Anyone want to bet this may have been staged?

Assuming it wasn't staged, the employee is probably happy to still be an employee. When you only have a hand full of competitors in a market it's usually blasphemy to support the competition even just a little.

Mr. Ballmer could have sued the employee for endangering others by carrying an explosive device.

LOL.

Why would you need a picture of Ballmer? I ran into the guy in an elevator once, he's just human.

I do like Balmer's enthusiasm, even if it is for Microsoft. If you have a big company, you want your CEO to be as excited and loyal to your product as possible. Its better than the opposite, where every day your CEO just tries to change his current company into his former company.

If he hates Apple so much why does he keep selling technology to them, and supporting their technology on his platforms? Smells like a bullshit to me.

what a douche

Real silly in my opinion.

Unless MS is providing their employees with complimentary cellphones, they're free to select any phone they wish.

I work for a bank and I can have other bank credit cards without having to hide it or anyone getting their panties up in a knot. Its just a phone. The fact that he addressed the phone like an effigy just goes to show how much fear they have for the product.

just looking at his picture makes me sick. that fat whale blob of a CEO. so if I work for Calvin Klein am I only allowed to wear his clothing?

I'm betting it was staged. Especially since Windows Mobile 6.5 is about to be formally released. I bet the first thing they talked about after that was Windows Mobile 6.5.

Wow, it's a big year for MS: Windows Mobile 6.5, Zune HD, and Windows 7.

I still don't understand why they call 6.5. The platform looks even more different then when they went from 5 to 6.

There's no love lost between Apple and Microsoft... that's old news.

Ballmer cracks me up, though. He's the antithesis to Steve Jobs stoic, serious-cat, I'm-Steve-Jobs-I'm-an-artist-and-I'm-better-than-you persona.

Ballmer is baller.

I absolutely abhor balmer's way of doing!
Someday he's going to make a big mistake, with his big mouth..

Maybe the next CEO will be one with the voice of Megatron from the transformers?

I think it's funny, he is not a douche and it is not poor taste. Microsoft is a business and it should be pumped about it's own products (whether or not they are worthy) and demonstrate confidence in them. I would have done the same thing. Now if I took a WinMo phone to a Mac event I would be booed and criticized into oblivion for sullying the event with such a device. I have personally witnessed this on more than one occasion.

I dont like apple, but I guess if I am the CEO of Microsoft and see that my employees are using an apple product, I think I would just make a phone that is better than the competition. (Not a crappy os Like windows mobile with that little frigging x that you have to touch.) Maybe if He said hey why do you use that phone instead of a windows mobile phone they could improve that windows mobile experiance.

Just out of curiousity, since you seem to be an in-the-know and all, if America isn't #1 anymore (and I assume we're talking about computer technology, since that's the context), then who is?

i am the nina, the pinta, the santa maria

If you work for Microsoft and you buy an apple product..... you are an idiot.

If you are a new hire and currently own an iphone, give it to your wife or use it after hours. By bringing it to work, you have labeled yourself.... an idiot.

If you work for Apple and you buy a zune HD..... you are an idiot.

The only thing here that makes Microsoft look bad...... is that they hired an idiot.

@etichi,

It is called working smart. If you are a MS employee that is high enough on the coporate ladder to be sitting in a meeting with the CEO of a billion dollar company, you should be smart enough not to be wearing a I love the competition t-shirt

You wouldn't find the manager of a Toyota dealership driving a Honda.

Maybe Steve Job's assistant should buy a Zune HD and then show Steve how great it is or isn't.

You are free to think and buy what you want.

And this particular employee is free to be an idiot.

You say America is not #1 and that's the proof you give? A comedy show, not to mention one that makes no sense? How does one measure "freedom of the press", let alone rank countries in it?

Employees should take pride in their work, whether it be coding Windows 7 or mopping the floor. If they don't believe their work is the best by not supporting it, that goes to show what kind of job they do - and Ballmer made this point hilarious.

If using products from other companies is a career-limiting move at your place of employment, you should look carefully at your choice of employers.

I work with some of the high up Microsoft reps at my government job. It's no joke, their address says it all "Microsoft Way". When your with them you live, breathe, sleep and eat MS and dare not anything else. That guy could have lost his job, and I sure he received major butthurtz for getting caught with that phone.

What does it say about your company when people who have the ability to attend a meeting with a multi billion dollar company are buying competing companies products.. Its about image. You as an employee who can sit with the CEO of said company should be thinking about the company's image as well. If hes some lower level guy who just opens the door for people its different than if hes a guy who attends meetings with CEO's..

etichi, you shoot your mouth off and you don't back it up. You claimed America wasn't #1 anymore, and I challenged you to tell me who is. You obviously couldn't do it.

Well, let's take a look real quick. As I said, I assume we're talking about computer technology, since that's the context of the conversation, so let's see:
Intel... nope, they're in Santa Clara, CA (USA)
AMD... nope, they're in Sunnyvale, CA (USA)
Motorola... nope, they're Schaumburg, IL (USA)
TI... nope, they're in Dallas, TX (USA)
NVIDIA... nope, they're in Santa Clara, CA (USA)
ATI... Ontario, Canada.. yay! Oh wait, bought out by AMD in 2006, crap!(USA)
IBM... nope, Armonk, NY (USA)
Dell... nope, they're in Round Rock, TX (USA)
HP... nope, they're in Palo Alto, CA (USA)
Apple... nope, they're in Cupertino, CA (USA)
Microsoft... nope, they're in Redmond, WA (USA)

I could go on, but I trust I've made my point. Yes, I know there are computer manufacturers like Acer, Toshiba, Sony, etc. who are outside the US. I am also aware that almost all motherboard and memory come from Taiwan, etc. But the point is, America is still very much #1 in computer technology. America leads the world in technological innovation, and will continue to do so for a very long time to come. You may not like some of the company leadership, but that's another discussion.

So the next time you feel like shooting your mouth off... don't.

It is alright to defends someone's right to buy what they want.

But c'mon the guy is an idiot.

A new hire at Apple should go into a meeting carrying his Dell laptop, then plug is zune in to charge it. And he should do this while wearing an "I love Windows" t-shirt. He should then shake Steve Job's hand and say " So do you think that we are going to get bitch slapped by the zune HD or what"?

We would see how long that guy would last.

Even MacDonalds employees are smart enough not to walk into work with a bagged lunch from Burger King.

well if it was a person who so high up, why would he need to take a picture of Ballmer anyway. The point is he wasnt that high up, and it was probably a once in a liftime sighting for him. He got excited and tried to take a pic of him, so he could say look I met Steve Ballmer. I cant imagine anyone that sees Ballmer at meeting regularly is going to try to snap a photo, why would they if they are just gonna see him next week. Use a little deductive reasoning. I do think it was probably a brain lapse on the employees part. Personally I wonder what he would have done had somebody whipped out a blackberry. Cause quite frankly I would have told Ballmer to go bite himself if he touched my Blackberry.

Your personal opinion of America does not correlate with a statistical statement that it's not #1 - that requires data. You know, numbers.
Excuse my persistence (and some anger), but I'm just sick of seeing "America sucks because Americans suck" all over the place. That's no arguement to make.

That's a good one. The BB rules business. I can personally think of 55+ professionals that are required to have a smart phone.... and guess what?

Nobody has an iphone.

What app makes it smart?

I had a good laugh.... thanks man.

But seriously, this guy is too dumb to work for any company. He needs to work in a video store.

Anyone who is not laughing at this guy's level of intelligence is either 16 years old and has no life experience, or is one brick short of a load themselves.

The level of idiocy is so high that I looked to see if this was one of TH's weekend jokes.