Microsoft: Do not mention/use Apple products at our events

Probably still  reeling from all publicity around these shots, Microsoft reportedly told journalists gathered for a company press event in Germany not to use or mention Apple products.  Our German is a bit rusty and Google is even worse, but according to Handelsblatt and our bad translation:

“While at a Windows Mobile 6.5 demonstration in Munich, Germany a journalist was warned by a Microsoft spokesman not to mention or use Apple products…since it was a Microsoft event the journalist had previously told everyone that he had never owned an easier to use cell phone than the iPhone.”

Now, you can say what you like about Microsoft’s huge market share – not just in terms of PC sales but also in virus and Trojan horse production – but even in Apple’s darkest days we don’t think Cupertino ever insisted on no mention or use of Microsoft-powered products. Looks like a fin de siecle to us…

Anyway, returning to the story, here’s Google Translate’s laughable translation of part of it – perhaps some of our German-speaking readers can, erm, actually translate this.

“The offense: The journalist had dared to talk during dinner to mention that he had never seen a possessed so easy to use phone like its iPhone. Und das auf der Vorstellung des Windows Betriebssystems Mobile 6.5. And on the idea of the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. “The emotion surprised me,” says a PR consultant was present at that time. “It shows that the nerves are raw.”

 “We’ve messed with Mobile 6.5,” quoted Paul Jozefak, members of the Microsoft Venture Capital Summit, the Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer. “I wish we had Windows Mobile 7 in the market.” This should come 2010th.”

So there you have it – the world’s biggest software company, sticking its head in the sand.

Thanks to reader Towa Tei for the tip.