The Clippers under new Owner Steve Ballmer "will be a Microsoft organization," as he is "still the largest individual shareholder of the company" despite leaving its BOD last month, according to Milliken & Kelsey of REUTERS. Ballmer said, "Most of the Clippers are on Windows, some of the players and coaches are not." He added of Clippers coach and Senior VP/Basketball Operations Doc Rivers, "Doc kind of knows that’s a project. It's one of the first things he said to me: 'We are probably going to get rid of these iPads, aren’t we?' And I said, 'Yeah, we probably are.' But I promised we would do it during the off season" (REUTERS, 9/25). In L.A., Ben Bolch cited a source as saying that the phasing out of Apple products "would not impact player or employee personal devices." However, it "probably wouldn’t be wise to whip out an iPhone" at team HQ (LATIMES.com, 9/25).
SOUR APPLE? L.A. Times' Bill Plaschke said he did not believe it was a "fair demand" for employees not to use Apple products. Plaschke: "There are enough hassles with running the basketball operation with players on the floor and how you run your team and strategies. You don't need to have the front office and the coaches worry ... about technology." But Denver Post columnist Woody Paige said, "He has every right to say, 'This is my company, I have a background in Microsoft, I think you should have to use our parts.' Every company we've ever worked for has asked us to use their products." The N.Y. Daily News' Frank Isola sarcastically said, "The nerve of him to come in and spend $2 billion and think that he can start making demands on his employees" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 9/26).
