Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system is hardly as influential as its desktop counterpart. And now that Steven A. Ballmer has announced plans to retire, it is easy to point fingers at the Microsoft chief executive for the lackluster success the company has had in mobile computing.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system is hardly as influential as its desktop counterpart. And now that Steven A. Ballmer has announced plans to retire, it is easy to point fingers at the Microsoft chief executive for the lackluster success the company has had in mobile computing.
But that would be an inaccurate recounting of the story. Mr. Ballmer took the helm at Microsoft in 2000, just as the company was preparing to enter the mobile business with Pocket PC 2002, the earliest version of Microsoft’s mobile software.
Other than the mobile market, Ballmer did pretty good:
Anyone who describes outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's tenure as a "failure" is wrong. An annualized growth rate of 16 percent in a large, established company, selling into mature markets, is nothing to scoff at. Revenue tripled under his leadership; profits doubled. That's some failure.
It's also not the case that Ballmer was simply riding high on the Windows and Office monopolies he inherited. They played a part, certainly, but they're not the whole story. During Ballmer's time as CEO, Microsoft Dynamics (its suite of CRM and ERP software) went from non-existent to a billion-dollar-a-year business. So too did SharePoint. So did Xbox. So did the System Center suite. So did Lync (formerly Office Communicator). So did Office 365. So did the Windows Azure cloud platform.
'Firefox Mobile' updates for Windows Mobile
'Firefox Mobile' updates for Windows Mobile | The Download Blog - Download.com
Looks pretty nice actually. I would take that over IE on my phone.
~Lordbob
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