Posts Tagged: ballmer

microsoft / tablets / technology / windows phone 7 — 10 Comments
26
May 11

Ballmer: making the wrong kind of mistakes

Yes, you

I have a new theory about Steve Ballmer.

Maybe earlier in his life, or in a previous life, he did such wonderful things, he earned himself a guardian angel.

Really, how else does one explain how a man can remain employed through one planet-sized bungle to the next?

Many companies make mistakes in the pursuit of greatness. Apple makes some doozies.

But Microsoft, under Ballmer, consistently makes the kind of mistakes that can easily turn the company into the type of case study you don’t want to be: the “rise and fall” type.

I don’t pretend to understand the dynamics inside Microsoft. However, this is business. Very big business. No amount of loyalty, favoritism, appreciation or whatever can possibly rationalize the company’s poor showing since Ballmer assumed office.

How Microsoft, formerly the most valuable and profitable technology company on earth (“formerly,” thanks to Ballmer), with virtually limitless resources, could fall into its current state is almost impossible to comprehend.

After failing miserably with Vista, Ballmer has completely missed the two biggest technology revolutions in recent times: smartphones and tablets. And let’s not even talk about the $8.5 billion he just sunk into Skype.

The smartphone failure alone should have earned him his gold watch. It took Microsoft three years to come up with a viable alternative to iPhone. Even then, “viable” is probably being generous. Now, after Android, Microsoft must fight to be a distant third.

His public statements have become laughable, from predicting that iPhone can’t possibly succeed to passionately defending the PC as other technologies make it less relevant.

This week, Ballmer’s theater of the absurd redefined absurdity. First he blurted out that their newest OS, to be called Windows 8, will be released in 2012. Shortly thereafter, a Microsoft “spokesperson” issued a clarification: “It appears there was a misstatement.” Turns out, there is no timetable yet for the new OS, and there is no confirmation of its name.

Honestly, can you imagine this kind of screwup taking place at any other company?

It’s not like there isn’t a growing chorus of calls for Ballmer’s retirement. The latest came yesterday from the president of Greenlight Capital, David Einhorn. He describes the Microsoft CEO as being “stuck in the past.”

The good news for Microsoft is that Ballmer doesn’t have to be stuck in its present. It’s not all that hard to send a CEO packing.

Though I have no current fondness for Microsoft, I’ve often wondered how things might change if they actually had a visionary CEO. I imagine Microsoft’s stockholders have been wondering the same thing.

observatory — 7 Comments
10
Aug 10

Three men and a baby

Dell, Ballmer, Hurd and Torch — doing their best to lower the bar

After a solid month of Apple and Steve jobs being pummeled by the media over Antennagate, it’s refreshing to see other CEOs and companies step forward to take their beatings. Let’s thank them all for their creativity. While they’ve chosen different routes, each gives new meaning to the word “leadership”:

Michael Dell, CEO, Dell
Here’s a guy who made a fortune by breaking the rules in the computer business. Now he’s graduated to breaking S.E.C. rules for financial reporting. Not only does his company get fined $100 million, he personally gets zapped with a $4 million fine for participating in a scheme to mislead Wall Street. This isn’t exactly the inspirational behavior employees (or shareholders, customers and analysts) like to see in a CEO. While Michael fiddles, Dell burns. The Dell brand is fading, as is the value of its stock. But it’s okay. Dell’s board has just reaffirmed its “unanimous support for Michael’s continued leadership, transparent accounting, integrity in financial reporting…” It’s enough to make me believe in alternate universes.

Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft
Steve has done nothing in the last couple of weeks to deserve louder calls for his ouster — but then doing nothing has become his specialty. Under Steve’s leadership, shareholders have received a steady diet of embarrassing delays, often followed by even more embarrassing products. There was the revolutionary Courier tablet, which was in development forever and then killed before release. And the concept-challenged Kin phone that was killed just 60 days after release. Let’s not forget the grand-daddy of them all, the long-delayed and ill-received travesty called Vista. Most damning though, is that in the world’s most important market — mobile technology — Microsoft is but a whisper while Apple and Google have become the superpowers. (Oh, right, I forgot. Windows Phone 7 is coming.) Is there any measure by which Ballmer deserves to keep his job? With the resources available to Microsoft, you have to wonder what the company might be if it had a real visionary at the top.

Mark Hurd, ex-CEO, HP
Justice is harsh, isn’t it. The one guy who was actually doing a good job for his shareholders was sitting on top of the world one day and sent packing the next. The official story is that after marketing contractor Jodie Fisher filed a sexual harassment suit against HP for Hurd’s behavior, an internal investigation revealed discrepancies in his expense reports and payments to Fisher for work she didn’t do. Personally, I love the idea that the CEO of HP was sitting up at night fiddling with his expense reports. Whatever, there’s a lot about this story that just doesn’t add up. Henry Blodget has an interesting take on it this morning in SFGate. All I know is that you or I don’t get severance when we resign from our jobs or when we get fired for cause. Mark got a nice little $40 million severance package for accepting exile.

BlackBerry Torch, Newborn, RIM
Ain’t it cute? Say hi to the new Torch. Hard to remember the last time a non-Apple product got knocked about like this one has been. That RIM released this phone is surprising, given the company’s heritage. It’s not like they’re a newcomer to smartphones — they were literally the first guy in the pool. They’ve had plenty of time to analyze the success of Apple and Google. With all this skill and knowledge, they’ve created a new version of their software and launched it with the “all-new” BlackBerry Torch. Torch might appeal to the BlackBerry crowd but won’t be even remotely tempting to iPhone and Android customers. It has an underpowered processor, a cramped lo-res screen, and it’s thick and heavy. The words “clunky” and “cluttered” seem to pop up often in the reviews. It’s way too early to start writing BlackBerry’s epitaph, but maybe not too early to start checking out gravestone prices, just in case. The latest Nielsen survey says that only 42% of BlackBerry owners plan on buying another BlackBerry — compared to the 89% percent of iPhone owners and 71% of Android owners who plan to remain loyal.

Given the temptations and humiliations people have suffered at the top, you might want to think twice before you go applying for Hurd’s job…

apple news — 4 Comments
8
Jul 10

Don’t tell Steve Ballmer…

Coincidence or conspiracy?

I had a fun little surprise when I tapped out Steve Ballmer’s name in my iPhone Mail app, which then offered to auto-correct for me.

It only works when you use lower-case letters. But still, it’s a nice little touch.

Oh, those rascals in the iPhone software group…

strategy / technology — 1 Comment
22
Jun 10

Dancing with Steve Ballmer

Confession: I have a secret fascination with Steve Ballmer.

Certainly not because he’s any kind of visionary. I just find it fascinating to watch the charisma-challenged CEO perform his dance with words, putting a spin on things that are no longer very spinnable.

I thought I knew the man pretty well by now, but I did have a revelation watching this CNN Money interview. Ballmer will spin his little heart out — but he does some serious cogitation in an attempt to avoid the big fib. In fact, he resists the temptation even when the Microsoft-friendly interviewer lobs a softball to which he need only reply, “Yes.” You can see his brain working hard not to say the thing that will haunt him later.

Here are are some of my favorite moments from his exchange with interviewer Poppy Harlow (who has one of the greatest names in journalism).

Poppy: You are pretty confident about where you’re going in mobile. Can you win in mobile?
Ballmer: We can do very well in mobile.

[Geez. The lady just said you had confidence. Show some!]

Ballmer: The first step is to go from declining to growing. I think we’ll do a nice job of that.

[One moment please. I’m having an inspiration overload.]

Ballmer: We have a very well, kind of, received at least, by, uh, what we call the blogosphere [ah, so that was yours — catchy!], a very well received product in Windows Phone 7 which ships this year — WHOOSH! — and we’ll take off from there.

[Right. “Well received,” but unshipped, and with no firm date set. Nice job with the sound effect too. Even Steve Jobs doesn’t do this.]

Poppy: Looking at making the technology behind the phones, but not the phones themselves — that’s the right move, that’s the way to go?
Ballmer: Well that’s where we are [this brazen talk must end!], and it certainly has served us very well in the PC business, and we’re driving ahead in phones.

[When in doubt, cling to the PC model. “The people” love that.]

Poppy: What’s your hope for phones that use Microsoft technology?
Ballmer: We’ll give people choices … one of the advantages of the PC ecosystem — PC and now the phone — is to give people a range of choice.

Well, Steve, you know I’m not going to give up on you. But honestly, you need to change a couple of things. First, you should drop this bit about phones being just like PCs. If they were, Microsoft would be leading the charge and Apple would be insignificant. Second, it’s not nearly enough to stand for “offering choice.” Apple offered choice to an existing smartphone market. The League of Android gave people umpteen more choices. We still have BlackBerry and others. We’ve got choices out the wazoo.

If you’d like to show up at the party (three years late), you’ll need more than a tired slogan. Try making a phone people can get excited about.

technology — 5 Comments
7
Jun 10

Battle of the Steves

"PCs in greater and greater number"

Probably the last thing this world needs is a demonstration of the difference between Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer. Nonetheless, we got a pretty good one at the D8 Conference.

One of Jobs’ more interesting moments was his view of the PC’s future. He noted that trucks were largely replaced by cars only when cars sprouted consumer amenities. We still need trucks, but not for as many things. Similarly, we will continue to need PCs, but not for as many things. Tablet-like devices will just make most things so much easier.

Seems pretty obvious.

Then comes Ballmer’s interview. His duty, of course, is to disagree with Jobs. Hearing Mossberg’s summary of Jobs’ statement, Ballmer jumps in. “People will be using PCs in greater and greater number for many years to come,” he says, but “I think PCs will continue to shift in form factors.” He goes on talking about changes in “semiconductor infrastructure” (now he’s talking our language) to support Windows in different devices, and so on.

Aha. So iPads won’t rule the world. PCs will still be around, but in a different form. Mossberg presses Ballmer by asking if the iPad is actually a PC by this argument, to which Ballmer says, “of course it is.”

So what’s Ballmer’s point again? He’s basically just agreed with Jobs that future devices will take different forms than conventional PCs. He’s just insisting that we continue to call them PCs. Now that’s leadership.

Personally, I wish politicians and corporate executives would learn that being human is more important than disagreeing with their competitors. Ballmer would score more points if he simply said, “I don’t disagree with what Steve Jobs said on this stage. New devices will obviously take over many of the PC’s functions, and Microsoft is working hard to build this future.” He could always hope nobody mentions the now-abandoned Courier project.

My point is that disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing is conventional, uninspiring and pointless. If Microsoft wants to help build the future, they’re not going to do it by clinging to words like “PC.”

strategy — 8 Comments
8
Jan 10

The futility of the other Steve

How I wish I was there

He can empty a room as quickly as he fills it. (Photo: Laura Rauch/AP)

For several months, the boys at Google have been working toward January 5th: Nexus One launch day. For several months, Apple has been working toward January 27th: tablet launch day. For several months, Microsoft has been working toward January 6th — and two days later, it’s hard to figure out why.

As near as anyone can tell, it’s because of tradition. Microsoft always gives the keynote at CES. But in this ultra-competitive world, tradition is hardly a reason for Steve Ballmer to stand up and make himself look small.

It pains me to be compassionate to this man, but I imagine it’s a near-impossible job to create front-page news from a few scraps. Microsoft has a number of things to brag about — it’s just that none of them are on the scale of Google unveiling a smartphone or Apple unveiling a tablet.

So our man Steve is left holding the script that says “Make big splash here,” when the genuine splash-makers have purposefully organized their own events to pull the rug out from under him. Surely this week Steve’s competitors are shaking their heads and wondering why this guy makes it so easy for them.

The hot rumor before Ballmer’s speech was that he would present a super-cool HP tablet in an effort to dilute Apple’s pending anouncement. He did so with only a passing mention. Maybe HP realized that this was a no-win situation for them with all the expectations for Apple’s new tablet. If they’re smart, and their tablet is that hot, they’re already putting the finishing touches on plans for their own event — sans Ballmer.

Suggestions for Steve: Be a renegade. Skip the damn show if you haven’t the weaponry. Never go anywhere simply because people expect you to. It’s just Showmanship 101.