here. Sure, the letter is a fantastic read, for fans of the company, and well, technology overall, but more importantly it provides hints about the cultural shift that will be occurring under his leadership. Particularly, a new perspective that is different from the devices and services approach that former CEO Steve Ballmer outlined and initiated prior to his exit. In short, he seems to be done with this project, and wants to go beyond than becoming just another provider of such elements. And rather politely, he has said that the company needs to do more than just “devices and services” in order to achieve its goals. Read up:
“More recently, we have described ourselves as a ‘devices and services’ company. While the devices and services description was helpful in starting our transformation, we now need to hone in on our unique strategy.”Customers, obviously, have now become the core of Microsoft’s business model, with the company’s focus on productivity, and ensuring that is products better address the needs of the people, helping them get things done easier and faster. Cloud and devices are just part of the puzzle, as this image shows:
This is a significant shift for the technology giant, and now instead of just being a devices and services firm, Nadella wants Microsoft to become the premier provider of mobile and cloud software solutions.
And this is something that will take some doing — as Microsoft current market share in mobile shows.
Luckily, the company seems to have the right folks at the top, and while Nadella has said that he will further reorganize the operations of the company, he has also promised more insights on this new Microsoft later this month.
The Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC 2014) in Washington DC is just days away now, and this high profile event will be followed by the MGX conference in Redmond.
Plenty of details should be out then.]]>
All Comments
I actually think this mobile first, cloud first model is just another way to say devices and services. I don’t know why everyone keeps trying to push the “moving away from the Ballmer plan” theme
I would expect him to move away from it. This strategy wasn’t an overwhelming success, and Microsoft needs to innovate and not become complacent and lag behind the competition.
The days that MS can earn money through selling OS will be gone soon as Apple and Google are both giving away free OS. They both use their app stores to earn even more money back.
Here’s something Microsoft could try to do, if they are looking for a reason to exist: Make internet usage safe. Be the company to do this! No one has set out specifically to tackle this head on. Right now the internet is the wild west. If we are going to store even more personal data on the internet because of its increasing pervasiveness, this problem has to be cracked. If indeed it can be. Things they could do for starters: Make all email channels encrypted from end to end. Likewise cloud file storage. And provide a VPN service for a monthly fee, wrapped in with Office 365, OneDrive, etc.