Well, something definitely slipped...

The web had a bit of a news hiccup with the iPhone over the weekend, with various news reports saying that it was a bit slippery to use. At least one site has posted a retraction; it looks like Gizmodo had some fun rumor-smashing.

Typical. Just Typical

In a recent interview with USA Today, Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) stated several things, none of which are really news. He promised to not come out with a Zune phone, he made some claims about what a great CEO he was, etc. This quote interested me, though: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share." That's really interesting. He thinks they'll see "2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get." Really, really interesting. According to Steve Jobs in his keynote this January, Apple is aiming for 1% of the phone market one year after the iPhone comes out. Pishposh! That's just 10 million phones! At $500 each that's just... oh wait. That's $5 billion. By Ballmer's own estimates, it's $15 billion. And this is likely a zero-sum equation -- people that get the iPhone probably won't get a Windows Mobile phone.

Update:Macworld.co.uk seems to assert Microsoft only has about 5.6% of the mobile market. This puts another quote of his in perspective -- "Would I trade 96% of the market for 4% of the market?" He doesn't have 96% of the market, not in this segment anyway. He's sweating bullets in this market segment.

In other news, he promised to not release a Zune with phone features, stating "It's not a concept you'll ever get from us." I'm not sure I believe him -- if Linux phones really have 3 times more market share than Windows Mobile, I'd be surprised if he didn't have a team on it already.

Technorati Tags: Ballmer, editorial, Microsoft, news, Zune

Pictures from the iPhone

Folks over at Mobile Guerilla spotted what appear to be the first pictures publicly available that were taken by the iPhone. The picture quality is very great on one picture, not so great on the other, but it gives a good idea of what can be accomplished with the 2 megapixel camera. The lens on the iPhone must be fairly decent -- the first picture looks sharp; the 2 megapixel on my current Sony w810i is much more grainy by comparison.

All I can say is, if the pictures it takes look like the first picture linked, great! If the pictures it takes look like the 2nd picture linked, not so great. With the second photo, let's hope that they were just testing how everything looks under horrible lighting conditions.

A MS exec not a fan of the iPhone? Wha?

An Asian-Pacific Microsoft exec slams the iPhone, citing the lack of an Office suite. He also says "using it as a heavy messaging device will be a challenge," presumably because he's tried it already, for real

AT&T to market the iPhone to enterprise:

According to Wireless IT World, AT&T will market the iPhone to enterprise users. This is interesting to me, as there hasn't been any positive word on editing MS Office files, and official knowledge remains scant regarding Outlook or Exchange compatibility, either currently or in the future. However, sources do indicate the iPhone will look bangin' with a suit.

AT&T reveals info about iPhone:

Engadget Mobile posted an internal Q&A on the iPhone for employees. Probably the most interesting bit is the ability to extend a contract by 2 years even if under contract...

Phone Different Launches

Welcome to phonedifferent.com! Built under the umbrella of Smartphone Experts, a cloud of smartphone expertise that covers such sites as TreoCentral, WMExperts, QDepot, and BBerry. Our forums will be shared forums with WMExperts and Treocentral, and we will cover similar sorts of news: financial news, accessory and software reviews, and any other news bits that might be related.

Welcome aboard!

First Blurb

This is a blurb. Blurbs are short little news bits that may not warrant a full story but deserve attention or comment. This is our first one! It's not much of a news story, so it's a blurb.