Article by George Norman

On 07 Nov 2008

The Android powered G1 phone that hit the market last month seems to have generated somewhat of a disagreement between Microsoft and Intel representatives. Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel, at the Web 2.0 Summit that is held in San Francisco has showed his faith in the Google phone, even though he is an iPhone aficionado. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, on the other hand is not so optimistic about the G1’s future.

According to Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, the Android is the very first mobile phone operating system to be developed by Google, meaning that they lack the necessary experience in this field. The other thing that Ballmer can’t get his head around is how will Google make money off Android? The code is already open source, so what possible means could Google employ to make a profit? To put it simply, it is a financially unsound strategy.


The main competitors in the mobile phone operating systems market are Microsoft with Windows Mobile, Apple with the iPhone OS, and Google with Android (which is only used on the T-Mobile G1). In terms of the strongest competitors for Windows Mobile, Ballmer was quick to dismiss the Android: “Google doesn't exactly bubble to the top of the list of the toughest competitors we've got going in mobile.” If you thing about it, Apple posses much more of a threat to Microsoft than Google does. Proof of that is the fact that 1.5 million more iPhones were shipped out in the last quarter, compared to Windows Mobile equipped phones.

Intel’s Paul Otellini on the other hand has the utmost confidence that the Android will have a bright future. According to him, we can expect more and more smart phones to be released on the market – the iPhone and the G1 were only the first in a hopefully long line of smart mobile devices. As the manufacturing companies compete against one another, they will consequently put out better and better products (which is great for the end user).

If you were waiting for the catch, here it is. Regarding Ballmer’s assessment – he was wrong in predicting the iPod’s success and he was wrong in predicting the iPhone’s success as well. Regarding Otellini’s brightly painted Android future – it makes sense for him to be hopeful since he is on the Google board.



Tags: Google, Android, T-Mobile, Microsoft, Windows Mobile

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