Remember the article about Microsoft’s lost decade? Well, it looks like the man itself decided to debunk the story and had some interesting things to say in the recent Forbes interview.
According to Steve, since the 90s, the software giant has made a huge progress and thanks to that, there are now over 1.3 billion PCs worldwide with 375 million sold this year alone. This is not exactly something you would call a lost decade.
However, things do not end here, he also emphasized on the Enterprise, saying that in the year 2000, people never thought that Microsoft would become an enterprise company and look at it now.
What about the MSFT stock price?
As Ballmer said, “The stock market has always had its own meter. Sometimes it’s ahead of itself, sometimes it’s behind itself. A broken watch is right twice a day. Ultimately all Microsoft can do is focus in on doing exciting products, which with Windows 8, with Office 15, with Surface, with the new PPI technology, with what we’re doing with Skype, where we’re going with Bing and Windows Phone and Xbox. We think we’ve got the most exciting stuff we’ve ever had. Number two is how do we do from a profitability standpoint. If we deliver exciting products and we make more money, eventually that will translate into rewards for our shareholders.”
And lastly, when Forbes asked whether or not Ballmer misses Steve Jobs “as a force in the industry”, he said, “I don’t” and added “The life of Steve Jobs is felt in terms of the good work Apple is still doing. It’s felt in terms of the challenge that it presents to us. How long does that last? I don’t know.”
Stay tuned.