Ballmer has a history of iPhone putdowns (see ""). Judging by his latest appraisal of the smartphone market, he still has trouble accepting the success of Apple's phone. from the third quarter of 2008 showed RIM's BlackBerry models and Apple's iPhones in a distant second and third behind Nokia, whose 42% market share of phones largely run the Symbian OS. Gartner's data indicated that Windows Mobile shipped four million units in the quarter, compared to 4.7 million iPhones.
But Microsoft isn't all talk. The company has announced plans to to counter Apple's retail success, and is also designing a . However, momentum will be slowed by the fact that the retail stores and new mobile OS are still being developed -- Windows Mobile 6.5 won't be available until the second half of the year, and it's not certain when the first Microsoft stores will open.