Business Insider is amused: it’s found video of Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer dismissing the iPhone back in 2007.

INTERVIEWER: …  The Zune was getting some traction. Then Steve Jobs goes to MacWorld and he pulls out this iPhone.  What was your reaction when you saw that?

STEVE BALLMER: 500 dollars?  Fully subsidized? With a plan?  I said that is the most expensive phone in the world.  And it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard.  Which makes it not a very good email machine… Right now, we’re selling millions and millions and millions of phones a year.  Apple is selling zero phones a year.  In six months, they’ll have the most expensive phone by far ever in the marketplace…

I don’t really see the point here. Since when did company bosses react to questions about their competitors by going “Oh fuck! You’re right! We’re fucked! They’re going to kick our arse! Fuck! Fuckity fuck!”?

There are plenty of reasons to criticise Ballmer, but publicly slagging a competing product is part of his job.