Barack Obama wants a new phone, but does he want Windows?
It turns out U.S. President Barack Obama is getting tired of his BlackBerry, complaining that in “the Oval Office, I always thought I was going to have really cool phones and stuff. I’m like, c’mon guys, I’m the president of the United States. Where’s the fancy buttons and stuff and the big screen comes up? It doesn’t happen.”
That unscripted comment led Microsoft’s EMEA team to step in with this tweeted offer: “Hey @BarackObama, we hear you want a cool phone – how about a Windows Phone 7? We Can send one your way!”
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While it’s not clear which phone with “fancy buttons” Obama really wants, it’s well known that he uses a BlackBerry. Unfortunately, only 10 people are authorized to email the president on his “super-encrypted” device and the president has claimed these restrictions make the phone “no fun.”
Since Mr. Obama is the president, I figure he should be able to choose whichever damn phone he wants. Android? iPhone? They’re all on the table. He could even get a white iPhone if he waits a few weeks. Heck, I’ll give him my year-old Motorola Droid if he’s willing to give me the cash to buy the HTC Thunderbolt.
In any case, Obama’s remarks and Microsoft’s response actually can be interpeted in a serious light. If even the BlackBerry-owning president is complaining about a lack of “really cool phones,” that shows Research in Motion is losing the “hearts and minds” battle to Google and Apple. Microsoft may offer Obama a Windows phone, but would he choose it? If he’s like the average consumer, the answer would be no. More people buy iPhones and Androids than Windows phones, and the White House may be wary of Microsoft’s flawed update process.
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While some wondered why Steve Ballmer wasn’t invited to a recent meeting Obama held with tech luminaries like Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerberg, we do know Ballmer met with the president in January when Chinese leader Hu Jintao was in town. If Microsoft really wants to get a Windows phone over to Obama, it’ll find a way. Whether he actually wants to use it is another question.
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