Ballmer: Apple a 'low-volume player except for tablets'

In a post-Windows 8 launch interview, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has referred to Apple as a "low-volume player, except in tablets."
The comments followed Ballmer's discussion of the Windows business model following the launch of both the firm's Surface tablet device, and its new operating system Windows 8, which has already amassed four million upgrades worldwide.
He continued to state that he does not believe the firm is attempting to mimic Apple.
There is a great deal of truth to the comments made by the CEO, as Apple's share of the PC market sat at just 13.6 per cent as detailed within third-quarter results.
"In the PC market, obviously the advantage of diversity has mattered since 90-something percent of PCs that get sold are Windows PCs," said Ballmer in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Likewise, Apple certainly isn't a low-volume player within the tablet market as recent figures highlight the firm has sold over 100 million of its iPad devices since its launch just two and a half years ago.
Analysts believe this dominance is only set to increase with the upcoming release of the iPad Mini, forecasting that Apple will sell close to 101.6 million iPads in 2013.
Interestingly, Ballmer fails to mention smartphones within his comments, which would give the impression that Microsoft leads Apple in this category too.
Figures would strongly indicate otherwise.
Google's Android OS clears both firms with easy, taking the smartphone market title by holding a 52.2 per cent market share.
Apple sits at 33.4 per cent according to recent iPhone 5 pre-order numbers, whilst Microsoft has just a 3.6 per cent hold on the space, a number the firm will be hoping to increase with HTC's Windows Phone 8X.

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