Microsoft CEO Said iPhone Had "No Chance" of Getting Significant Market Share. Apple Is Now Worth $3 Trillion. Windows Phone Is Dead.

In a USA Today interview just months before the iPhone launched, Ballmer laughed off Apple's chances with the confidence only a CEO whose company would later lose the entire smartphone war could muster. His logic? The iPhone was too expensive, and Microsoft's Windows Mobile would dominate by being in 60-80% of phones. Fast forward to today: iPhone commands 27% of the global smartphone market with 1.56 billion active users and generated over $200 billion in annual revenue. Microsoft's mobile OS? Discontinued in 2019 after burning through billions. Windows Mobile's market share at death: approximately 0%. Apple became the world's most valuable company, worth over $3 trillion. The "2-3%" Ballmer predicted turned into a product line that single-handedly generates more revenue than most Fortune 500 companies. Oh, and that laughing video of Ballmer mocking the iPhone's price lives forever on YouTube as a monument to this call.