Debunk: Steve Ballmer not speaking at WWDC

An analyst named Trip Chowdhry at Global Equities Research set off a firestorm of rumors last night after he claimed that Steve Ballmer would appear onstage with Steve Jobs at WWDC for exactly seven minutes to announce Visual Studio development for the iPhone -- and the maelstrom of crazytalk quickly expanded to include everything from a Bing partnership to Silverlight for the iPhone. Turns out all that chatter was just as insane and untrue as you'd expect, though: Microsoft's official Twitter account just clamped down on the speculation, saying that Ballmer isn't speaking at WWDC, or appearing on Dancing with the Stars. Sorry kids -- looks like we'll have to just hold out hope for next season.

[Marklitt Posted May 27th 2010 3:53PM]

@sfox8
I sense a couple of people that really need to get out more. I made a mistake and I've apologized for error. I'm big enough to do that

[sl86 Posted May 27th 2010 10:21PM]

@N900 Here we go, N900 on it again. R u trying to get in bed with josh topolsky or something? Anytime anyone criticizes engadget you are on it!! Why don't u be a man and ask one of them out on a date? It'll be a change from making me cringe on a daily basis.

[Waroxy Posted May 27th 2010 2:41PM]

Oh, no. Not appearing on Dancing with the Stupids.

[kiyu727 Posted May 27th 2010 2:42PM]

@ddddd
I dont even know what that is, I thought flash was the only thing on the web .... though I heard of Richmedia .. but then again whats that ... >_>

[Wise Tablet Posted May 27th 2010 2:43PM]

Damn! I was hoping sooo bad for a Mac version of Visual Studio and Office 2015 in advance...

[gboehm Posted May 27th 2010 3:21PM]

@Wise Tablet i don't think they would announce a development tool for the iphone running on windows...
the iphone sdk was the only reason i bought a mac for...

[Wise Tablet Posted May 27th 2010 3:47PM]

@gboehm Ah I was kidding :-) Seriously, SB standing besides SJ at the Keynote sharing the same vision was kinda funny. This has just been cleared off by Microsoft on twitter : no SB.

[HikaKao Posted May 27th 2010 2:45PM]

I thought this article was a joke (because I hadn't heard about this rumour at first). Did anyone actually believe this?

[derrickONLINE Posted May 27th 2010 2:45PM]

DUH

[rapitera Posted May 27th 2010 2:47PM]

However JJ Abrams has confirmed Ballmer's identity as the Smoke Monster from Lost.

[ghostdog Posted May 27th 2010 2:49PM]

Developers developers developers developers

[LetsDoThis Posted May 27th 2010 2:50PM]

There must be a joke about Trip Reports in there somewhere

[LANjackal Posted May 27th 2010 3:04PM]

At least MS have a sense of humor

[fuesse Posted May 27th 2010 3:20PM]

thank god!

[Dante of the Inferno Posted May 27th 2010 3:45PM]

Steve Jobs play nice with others? That's about as laughable as it sounds.

[Ed T Posted May 27th 2010 3:46PM]

No denial of the Visual Studio rumor though. Now THAT would be a coup for Ballmer, and it would open OS X and iPhone OS to millions of potential apps. Of course it might also let some apps cross over in the other direction as well. The question is will Jobs let this happen to put the hurt on Android?

[Wesscoast Posted May 27th 2010 6:49PM]

@Ed T

Welcome to like... ten years ago... there is no 'problem' finding awesome Apps on OSX.. lol...

This is about MS making money off a totally sizzling hot Apple platform (as opposed to... sigh... Windows Phone)... the same way they make bucketloads of cash off Office for Mac... they would love to sell the Dev tools for OS X.

There is no downside here at all.

[jaffreywali Posted May 27th 2010 3:59PM]

Visual Studio is a go!

[illiniwatcher Posted May 27th 2010 4:12PM]

Yeah, I could have told you Microsoft wouldn't have been in bed with the iPhone. For one thing, Apple's iPhone app developer agreement, specifically Sec. 3.3.1, has just been toughened to say that only Objective-C and Xcode could be used to develop apps for the iPhone platform (Version 4 which is coming out soon). Ballmer's appearance after such an act would be moribund.

[assb10yr Posted May 27th 2010 4:18PM]

@illiniwatcher
Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

[Zizagoo Posted May 27th 2010 4:15PM]

From the original source:

"Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with tiny Global Equities Research, contends that 7 minutes of the June 7 keynote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been blocked off for a presentation by Microsoft (MSFT) to talk about Visual Studio 2010"

"he thinks Microsoft’s presentation could be given by none other than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. (Or if not, at least Bob Muglia, who runs Microsoft’s server and tools business.)"

Not seeing the debunk here. Then again it wouldn't be Engadget without jumping to premature conclusions!

[mex Posted May 27th 2010 4:23PM]

BAZINGA!

[croooow Posted May 27th 2010 5:16PM]

MS would be one of the lamest twitter accounts to follow. I use MS products everyday so this is not an Apple Fanboy bashing MS, just does not seem like a fun source for tweets.

[rav97 Posted May 27th 2010 7:26PM]

Aha! I knew it! CONFIRMED: Ballmer is going to participate in "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!". Lack of a denial amounts to an admission.

[adilly Posted May 27th 2010 11:20PM]

Wouldn't it be amazing if the CEO of Verizon walked out on stage?