Today the new CEO of Microsoft. Steve Ballmer's replacement will be Satya Nadella, a man with 22 years of experience in the company and whose field of expertise is cloud services. The manager has prevailed over other candidates who seemed to have more votes initially and who have finally been discarded. From Tabletzona we want reflect on the future of Surface and how this new directive could approach it.
Satya Nadella, a new face with Bill Gates as Technology Advisor
It is interesting to note the memorandum in the form of an interview that Nadella has recorded on his first day as CEO of the company. In this video, he discussed his reasons for accepting this position and the challenges and opportunities that Microsoft has in the future. The key for him will be innovation, apply to the company itself the motto of its services and products, do more, trying to do more for its customers to discover new possibilities.
The strengths of this new leader are the technical knowledge at engineering level and future vision on the development of technology.
Bill Gates leaves the Board but it will be his Technology Advisor, investing more time in the company than he had been doing since he left the CEO position in 2000. In this sense, he will meet with product groups and help define the new line of devices and services. In a welcome message that the founder has recorded for his new leader, many details of Microsoft's new goals and how Nadella fits into them are revealed.
New goals: a cloud platform for any device
The Redmonds want to make their services star available in the cloud to any type of device. In fact, there is the possibility of conceive a new cloud platform for it. Nadella is an expert in this field and has been responsible for this unit in the company in recent times as Director of Cloud and Enterprise Engineering Group.
Enough has been said about the confluence of all the company's operating systems on a single flexible platform. This would be achieved by unifying the operating systems in a single, something unlikely, or by sharing a common hard core that will generate compatibility.
Devices leaving the firm should lead the way for Microsoft's manufacturing partners, a bit like the Surface has already done, in addition to generating a lot of resentment for its unbeatable value for money. For this new generation of devices they will have the experience of Stephen Elop, former CEO of Nokia, who has a great background in terms of products. He will be the head of a team focused on Surface, Windows Phone and Xbox.
Elop was one of the great candidates to replace Ballmer, although his performance will ultimately be different. Perhaps his figure was too controversial to lead a new era in which agreements with partners will be fundamental.
In this way, Nadella will receive advice for the development of devices and services from two heavyweights, Bill Gates himself and Steven Elop. This was one of the aspects for which he seemed least prepared. The new CEO's performance so far has to do with business services, where Microsoft continues to derive the majority of its contract and licensing revenue. It will be vital to maintain that flow of money to finance the projects that compete in the challenge faced by all tech companies: the mobility domain.
Surface or why the platform is important
The truth is that once we have overcome the initial fascination for the specifications of mobile devices in which we have been involved in recent years. Consumers are increasingly aware that the important thing is the platform and its services. The initial sales failure of the Surface itself proves it. In contrast, Google has outlined a very clever trajectory in this regard, and that is why it may be wetting Apple's ear in some markets.
For its part, Microsoft has unmatched potential to do something similar. Your services have value for consumers, which Office exemplifies well. In turn, the company is part of a good position in content distribution thanks to Xbox and its ability to be a Media Center and a springboard for music and video content services.
Surface, as well as future Windows Phones, just have to be an attractive enough access point for consumers to give more opportunities to the new platform to come.
Well, good that Bill Gates gets more fully into the creation of devices, hopefully the company will do well and continue to renew…. for good