Steve Ballmer's iPhone Hot Take Aged Beautifully

Steve Ballmer laughed — literally laughed — at the iPhone during a 2007 interview. He mocked its $500 price tag and lack of a physical keyboard, confidently predicting it would fail to gain market share.

Apple has since sold over 2.3 billion iPhones, generating over $1.8 trillion in cumulative iPhone revenue. The iPhone became the most profitable product in human history. Apple's market cap went from about $100 billion in 2007 to over $3.5 trillion, making it the world's most valuable company.

Microsoft's own mobile efforts — Windows Phone — were discontinued in 2017 after capturing less than 1% of the smartphone market.