Steve Ballmer laughs off at the iPhone

He laughs at it saying it is the most expensive phone that no one can afford. OK laughing at it is a little exaggeration, but he does look like little over confident.

Yeah, laugh at the competitor at your own expense. What iPhone is offering is not just new cell phone but easier way to operate the advanced features of cell phone. Pricing is always flexible, there will be discounts etc later on.

What is with US corporate culture? whole idea is if you respect your competitor you are considered as lacking self confidence or inferior? In my previous company, in our engineering meetings, engineering presentations used to start with “Kicked their a##’ referring to competitor(s), it was not just one presenter, but presenter after presenter same thing. I can agree that if it was some kind of sales meeting, it makes sense, but engineering meeting? Come next quarter, that competitor did kick our a##, well not exactly in the same sense, but they did have a better results and market rewarded them and we were pushed down.

AT&T offers unlimited mobile-to-home calling, but…

AT&T announced a promotion to outsmart the cable competition, but IMO it is hardly appealing.

The service, dubbed AT&T Unity, is offered as a perk to subscribers who pay for both the $50 a month unlimited local and long-distance calling plan for their home or business and the $59.99 a month unlimited wireless plan.

..errr if the mobile plan is unlimited, how does it matter? OK may be it is not really unlimited. Either way, I dont feel that much need to call home these days. Every individual has a mobile phone and mobile-to-mobile is free. Besides, you can get a VOIP for $25, so use the other $25 to get into the next level of plan in wireless.

I know for some people this will be attractive, but not for those who are cost conscious. Let’s see what happens, who goes out of what segment. (Telco’s offering video, cable offering telecom!!). As Jeff Nolan mentioned in his comments, cable VOIP is not exactly cheap.