Ballmer: Only ‘Computer Scientists' Use Android Phones

Are Android smartphones too complicated for the average person? Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer said users would have to be a "computer scientist" to work the new Android phones.

“You don’t need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows phone and you do to use an Android phone," he told an audience at Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco Tuesday.

(Editor -- Isn't it ironic that Microsoft, of all companies, is calling out someone else for being built "by engineers, for engineers"? Isn't that what the basic argument was when Bill Gates "obtained" great portions of Steve Jobs' operating system?)

Of course, the Microsoft chief was there to hype the Windows Phone 7 operating system, but did manage some kind words for the iPhone and Apple, if not Google, the Telegraph reported. Ballmer also used the forum to basically wipe his sweaty brow and shout "Whew!" and say how glad he was that Yahoo turned down Microsoft's offer to buy the search engine for $47.5 billion in 2008, according to CNN.

Ballmer also hinted that the Windows Phone 7 phones were more on par with the iPhone, but more user-friendly.

It's obvious to us that Ballmer wishes that Windows smartphones would be described in the same breath as the iPhone, but the reality is that Microsoft's smartphone OS lacks the numbers of users to back that up. Right now, it's ranked fifth -- and at only 4 percent, is less popular than Palm. Android smartphones, at 35 percent of marketshare, are the most popular and likely to stay that way.

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