Google's mobile phone operating system, Android, is not a threat to Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer announced at a news conference in Sydney, Australia on Thursday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. Ballmer predicted Google will likely face difficulty in getting mobile phone makers to use Android, which it is giving away.

“If somebody thinks the formula is you give away your operating system to get (traffic to Google search), the operators are much too smart; they'll know they can still ask to be paid to carry your service,” Ballmer said.

Google and Microsoft's operating systems are available for phone makers to load onto their phones, and T-Mobile's G1 mobile is the only one to use Android so far. Apple, however, makes its own mobile, the iPhone, as well as the phone's operating system. As Ballmer spoke, new figures were released showing that the iPhone had grown to have a 17.3 percent share of the growing mobile market in the third quarter, up from 3.6 percent the same quarter last year, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

Ballmer has said in the past that Apple's decision to link its hardware and software limits the iPhone's market reach. However, 6.9 million iPhones were shipped in the third quarter, while 5.4 million phones using Windows mobile were shipped, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Separately, Ballmer announced Microsoft may partner with Yahoo! Inc. in the future, but not buy it, Bloomberg reported.

Microsoft, which offered US$47.5 billion for Yahoo! earlier this year, has no plans to make another bid on the search company, Ballmer said, according to Bloomberg.