Microsoft COO Calls Apple's iPhone 4 "Their Vista"

Wow. Just wow. Sometimes, there's just nothing more to say. And this is one of those times, but we'll try to elaborate anyway. Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, probably pulls home a nice paycheck. He's right up there beside Steve Ballmer's corner office, and when he speaks about Microsoft, people understandably listen. He's the COO, after all.

So recently, when he spoke at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington, D.C., it made it impossible for us to ignore. What exactly did he say? "It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I'm okay with that."


Yes, "their" refers to Apple, and the statement is true. It's somewhat hard to believe that this was said, but we're guessing that it was either said in a joking fashion or in a heat of rage. Either way, it's pretty comical. There's no doubt that Apple has taken (and continues to take) a pretty severe bashing for the issues that shipped with the iPhone 4, and much like Vista, it continues to sell well regardless. Of course, Vista was hit pretty hard by critics who couldn't get over the quirks of the system, and it'll definitely reside up there with Windows ME for one of Microsoft's most hated operating systems. But will the iPhone 4 really be remembered as a "hated phone?" We kind of doubt it.

Still, it's pretty great to think that Microsoft feels that the iPhone 4 could be Apple's Vista. Even though this statement essentially confirms that Microsoft knows how bad the world hates Vista...