Back in the beginning of 2007, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer explains why a Motorola Smartphone running Windows Mobile is a better choice than a $500 iPhone.

You can get a Motorola Q-Phone now for $99. It'll do music, it'll do Internet, it'll do e-mail, it'll do instant messaging. I kind of look at that and I like our strategy, I like it a lot.

Steve makes an excellent point here. And that it is not just about what your device "will do", but also about how it does that. I get the feeling that iPhone is competing more on its UI than on its feature set. Well, as Ballmer said: let the results speak for themselves.

In six months they (Apple, ed.) will have the most expensive phone - by far - ever in the market place. And... let's see. Let's see how the competition goes.

Anyone seen any Europeans importing and hacking a Motorola Q-Phone lately? Because that's how badly people want an iPhone here in the Netherlands.

UPDATE
Dismissing the iPhone might be a Chief Execs disease. Chiquita's CIO: "I don't think iPhone brings anything new to the table. It has a great user experience, but that's all." [Via Etre]