Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer attacks Android and Apple

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has launched a broadside against Windows Phone competitors Google Android and Apple.

HTC Windows Phone 8X
Ballmer hopes that Windows Phone can position itself between Apple and Android.

Microsoft boss Ballmer blasted the Android ecosystem as uncontrolled, while criticising Apple's ecosystem as being highly-priced and tightly controlled.

He said: "The ecosystem of the Android is a little bit wild, that is from an app compatibility perspective and our world perspective maybe in a way that's not always in the consumer's best interests.

"Conversely the Apple ecosystem looks highly controlled, and, by the way, quite high priced."

Ballmer launched the attack while being interviewed by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman at an event with "tech influencers and innovators" at the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California.

He went on to argue that Windows Phone had an opportunity to position itself in between the two.

He said: "The question is how do you get the quality with maybe not the premium price of the phone, with maybe not quite as controlled an ecosystem. And how do you allow for the lower pricepoints, more affordability, diversity that comes with Android.

"And I think you can say that's kind of the best of both worlds and that's available to us."

Ballmer maintained that phone operators, who pay for most of the phones, want three companies.

He said: "On the high end, they have Apple and Samsung and a sea at the low-end.

"We have a customer set that wants an alternative, and it's a different opportunity strategically."

Ballmer added that he hopes Windows Phone will slowly claim a significant proportion of the market.

He said: "The challenge is to get 10 percent of the smartphone market, and then 15 percent, and then 20 percent. We aren't trying to get to 60 percent overnight."