Former Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, recently commented stating that Microsoft is the only company which is in a position to give Apple a serious run for its money in terms of hardware. Ballmer told the hosts of Bloomberg TV the following regarding the matter in an interview this past Friday morning:

Ballmer suggested that only companies able to compete with Apple were Samsung and Microsoft. Out of the two companies, only Microsoft was claimed to have both “the software and the hardware capability” to do it. He continued by arguing that although it isn’t essential for Microsoft to go after Apple’s marketshare, it’s important to gain a foothold in new categories, where he used the Surface Book as an example. For those of you who didn’t know, the Surface Book is Microsoft’s first self-designed laptop, which not only detaches its screen for use as a tablet but is also twice as fast and similarly sized to the MacBook Pro.

During the interview, the topic of the potential Apple Car came up. Ballmer didn’t have much to say regarding the matter aside from the fact that it’s a “much bigger leap to do cars than it is most of the things they’ve tried,” though he did mention that companies other than Tesla should be able to put smart software into vehicles. He concluded by stating “maybe Apple gets there, I don’t know.”

Ballmer continues to remain an interesting character and remains as enthusiastic about Microsoft as he did when he was the CEO. His claims seem to be a bit biased and hopefully with some good insight as better competition means a better end-product for consumers overall.

Source: Bloomberg