Microsoft CEO Hates iPhones So Much He Stomps On One

How’s this for awkward: some lots of Microsoft employees use iPhones. It’s not that surprising if you think about it, the iPhone is the hottest phone out there. Techies like the ones who work at major software companies are going to be drooling over hardware like that, even if it wasn’t a hit for the general public. That attraction pissed off the Microsoft CEOs so much that demonstrated Microsoft’s feelings about their employers using iPhones:

Mr. Ballmer snatched the iPhone out of the employee’s hands, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it in front of thousands of Microsoft workers, according to people present.

One iPhone-using Microsoft employee says he will not pick up the phone if he’s in a meeting with Ballmer, no matter who is calling. To appease Ballmer, Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft’s business division, put his iPhone in a blender at his first sales meeting after joining the company in 2008.

I’d like to think that if I were Ballmer, I’d see this as motivation to direct the company to make some kind of new competitive product but I’ve got a feeling that a) Ballmer already tried that and b) I would probably do the same thing if I was CEO of Microsoft. Part of me would love to have Ballmer’s job but there’s another part of me that feels nothing but pity for him right now. What’s he supposed to do?

–Daniel Strauss