Who would have thought we would be discussing something like this? But changing times often give way to uncommon debates. The question of today is whether end users are still the main focus of the company that once upon a time created products like Encarta and Picture It!
Read below for the long answer, but the short answer is a sheer and resounding yes.
While not a widespread line of thought, there have been some questions raised about whether Microsoft now focuses (or plans to focus) on end consumers as much as the business sector.
CEO Steve Ballmer made a candid little appearance at the Gartner Symposium ITXpo where he talked as much about the past as he did of the future. He also shared some thoughts on two of Redmond’s closest competitors — Apple and Google, both powerful companies that bet big on the end consumer segment.
And Microsoft’s main man had this to say:
“People are people. They are people in their work and personal personas. Consumers want to have an integrated life. Our most ambitious competitors are trying to compete in all the same areas that we are. We have more success in more areas than anyone else does.”
People are people, gotta give him that!
He also emphasized that Microsoft aims to reduce the gap between enterprise and consumers offerings in its product line, and the company has already begun work on this.
And in the column of things we already knew, Ballmer also confirmed that Google, Apple, and Amazon are the top three Microsoft competitors — more so now as it shifts focus towards key markets in hardware and services.
