Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home IT Management
    • IT Management
    • Mobile

    Microsoft CEO Ballmer Acknowledges Smartphone Mistakes

    By
    Nicholas Kolakowski
    -
    June 3, 2010
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer used the platform of the D8 Conference on June 3 to acknowledge his company’s missteps in the smartphone space, as well as the strength of competitors such as Apple’s iPhone and the ever-increasing number of Android-powered devices.

      A full blow-by-blow of that conversation can be found on this Website, although it lacks the accuracy of a polished transcript.

      “We were ahead of this game, and now we find ourselves No. 5 in the market,” Ballmer told The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg during an onstage question-and-answer session. “We missed a whole cycle. I’ve been quite public about the fact that I’ve made some changes in leadership around our Windows Phone software. We had to do a little cleanup.”

      Nonetheless, Ballmer tried to paint the smartphone market as one in continual flux, offering his company opportunities as it prepares to launch Windows Phone 7, a revamp of its smartphone operating-system franchise, at an as-yet-unannounced point in 2010.

      “We’re driving forward in the phone business,” Ballmer said. “But this is a very dynamic business, the market leaders here have shifted over twice in the past few years … so we’ve got to have real ideas and we’ve got to execute consistently.”

      As part of Microsoft’s renewed push into the mobile space, the company recently released a pair of phones, the Kin One and Kin Two, aimed at a younger demographic. Both devices have been optimized for social networking, and allow multimedia such as photos to be quickly uploaded to the cloud. While touted by many analysts as an early indicator of Microsoft’s ability to conceive and execute a wide-ranging plan for a mobile product, the company has not yet released sales figures for the Kins’ first few weeks on the market.

      Nonetheless, Ballmer acknowledged that other competitors have managed to corner a substantial portion of the mobile market. First he mentioned Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry, as “obviously a good competitor” but less robust as a “general-purpose tech platform” than its competitors. But Ballmer seemed to reserve most of his comments for Apple and Google, which have made substantial inroads into the consumer smartphone arena.

      “They’ve done a good job of coming from nowhere a few years ago,” Ballmer said about Apple. “They’ve done their best job on the browser. People focus on the apps, but the browser is really the thing that has distinguished their phones from others.”

      Meanwhile, “Android’s a real competitor,” Ballmer acknowledged, but also exhibited confusion about Google’s chances in the tablet PC market, where Android will be ported onto a handful of manufacturers’ offerings. “On the larger screen devices, who knows? I don’t know that these Android-based things will matter. … I don’t really understand why Google has two different operating systems.”

      Ballmer was accompanied for his D8 discussion by Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie, who participated in a wider-ranging discussion about tablets and Microsoft’s entrance into the cloud. Ozzie suggested that, despite the rise of smartphones and similar mobile devices such as tablets, there would always be room for a diversity of form factors.

      “I think there’s going to be success in a number of form factors-in the pad form factor, in the tablet mode. I think there will be appliancelike screens that will be in our living rooms,” Ozzie said. “There are certain fundamental differences in productivity in consumption and creation experiences, though. Both must exist on these devices.”

      Nicholas Kolakowski
      Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×