Apple Products May Be Scarce Around the L.A. Clippers

Of course, that doesn’t make Apple products such as the iPad and iPhone any less vexing to Ballmer, the longtime former Microsoft executive who famously bars his own family from using the devices of his primary technological competitor.

Ballmer told Reuters on Wednesday that team-issued Apple devices would likely be phased out.

“Most of the Clippers are on Windows, some of the players and coaches are not,” Ballmer said. “And Doc [Rivers, the team’s coach] 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.”

That means there’s probably no need to transfer all that game footage stored on iPads until next summer.

Apple devices used by players and coaches could eventually be replaced by Microsoft gadgets such as the Surface tablet.

A team source said the move would not impact player or employee personal devices, though it probably wouldn’t be wise to whip out an iPhone at team headquarters in Playa Vista.

© 2014 Los Angeles Times (CA) under contract with NewsEdge. All rights reserved.
 

Sam:

Posted: 2014-09-27 @ 8:58am PT

The back story: Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bought the L.A. Clippers basketball team from The Sterling Family Trust for a record-breaking $2 billion, announced in May. The Trust was the ownership entity for Donald Sterling and his wife, Shelly Sterling.

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Donald Sterling was essentially forced to sell the team following controversy over private remarks he made to a female friend that were recorded and then released publicly. The National Basketball Association (NBA) banned Donald Sterling from the game for life because of his comments. A media blitz surrounding the released recording pegged his remarks as offensive and racist, creating a firestorm of controversy.