There's been a lot of change at Microsoft in the past three months and it's hard to see how it all adds up.
First a major reorg, where CEO Steve Ballmer took independent units and blended them together into one big company. Then he said he would retire within a year. Then Microsoft bought Nokia's smartphone business.
So on Thursday, during Microsoft's annual analyst meeting in Bellevue, Wash., Ballmer laid out his master plan.
As usual, he was glowingly optimistic about the company's future, but he was also surprisingly frank about it's weak spots:
- When it came to mobile devices he confessed "We have almost no share."
- When it came to PCs, he said Microsoft must "ensure that the PC stays the device of choice for people when they're trying to be productive."
- With the cloud he said, "Office 365 and Azure have to be a touch down ... have to ... really kick ass."
Given how many products and services Microsoft already has today, he said the focus has shifted from "dreaming" of "doing thousands of things" to doing "fewer things" but "more successfully."
Taken all together this is the company's new mission: "Empowering people for the activities they value most."
This chart lists those activities (right), Microsoft's products and services (left), and the up-and-coming technologies where Microsoft will focus (bottom).
Still looks pretty complicated, no?
