Sales of Windows Phone slip; Ballmer’s ratings drop

By Seattle Business Magazine April 4, 2011

Bad news all around for Microsoft. Over the past four months, the companys Windows Phone lost ground and fell to 7.7 percent of the smartphone market share. Meanwhile, CEO Steve Ballmer saw his popularity among company employees drop to 40 percent, making him the least popular head of major technology firms.

Market researcher comScore examined the smartphone marketplace and found that Microsofts Windows Phone 7 dropped from having 9 percent of the smartphone market in November 2010 to 7.7 percent in February 2011. More than 69 million people now own a smartphone, and Googles Android-powered phones grew by 7 percent over the same period of time to grab one third of the overall market.

Meanwhile, a new report by GlassDoor.com shows that Ballmers approval rating fell from 46 percent in March 2010 to 40 percent in March 2011. By comparison, Amazons Jeff Bezos has an approval rating of 83 percent and outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt enjoyed a 96 percent approval rating.

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