At the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, two tech titans sat down to have a conversation. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman interviewed Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer at an event with "tech influencers and innovators," and a bunch of of us press folk. Ballmer is riding on the release of Windows 8, Surface and the Windows 8 Phone, so there is plenty to talk about.
I love when Reid Hoffman asks questions, as I saw him speak with Newark Mayor Cory Booker last year, and it was great.
Hoffman asked Ballmer what the future looks like at Microsoft and he said "We're happy with the spectacular start we got off to with Windows 8 and we're always innovating, but from a strategy perspective we're all in. We're off to a very good start, and we have a great team."
On Sinofsky's recent departure, Ballmer said: "Sinofsky's departure was his decision. We wish him well." Hoffman clearly got this question out of the way, as some of them came from the audience before the event.
On the Surface and Windows 8, Ballmer says that Microsoft has found the best of "both worlds — work and play." On the Surface specifically, Ballmer says that many people have had that "Ooooh, Ooooh, Ooooh, I get it moment." Hoffman then pressed and asked if Ballmer feels like it makes a dent in the tablet market, and Ballmer brought up the Asus model for Google and others. He does give in by saying that Microsoft is still in early days. "Diversity of form factor matters, and not compromising either form factor. You need diversity of price point. That's quite important."
We recently reported that Surface sales were "modest" at best.
Ballmer went on to discuss the Surface UI, which he described as "Different." Also, Ballmer made it clear that Microsoft wants to control its hardware creation, as not to give in to competition. "If we see an opportunity in the software/hardware seam, we're going to take it," Ballmer told Hoffman.
On Xbox, Ballmer says that it's very hard to share the economics, therefore handling the hardware itself. As far as phones, it made more sense to go along with partners and open innovation. Interestingly, when asked if Microsoft would ever ship a PC, Ballmer asked Hoffman "What is a PC?" This defense sounds very familiar, as Microsoft clearly wants to move along with the pack when it comes to blurring the lines between laptop, computer, phone and tablet. Microsoft has no plans on making laptops, or "clamshells" as Ballmer calls it, any time soon.
Back to this "Oh" moment, Ballmer really didn't get too much into that, but did say that his son uses it "all day, every day."
The best moment of the night was when Ballmer discussed Halo 4?s "200 something, I don't know, copies sold on the first day, or whatever." Yes, it's a popular game. Huge for Microsoft.
Have you had your "Oh" moment?
Read what Ballmer had to say about Apple and Android.
Steven A. Ballmer is Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft. Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 and was the first business manager hired by Bill Gates. Since then, Ballmer’s leadership and passion have become hallmarks of his tenure at the company. During the past 20 years, Ballmer has headed several Microsoft divisions, including operations, operating systems development, and sales and support. In July 1998, he was promoted to President, a role that gave him day-to-day responsibility for running Microsoft. He was named...
Reid Hoffman is a Partner at Greylock, and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at LinkedIn. Reid joined Greylock Partners in 2009. His areas of focus include consumer Internet, enterprise 2.0, mobile, social gaming, online marketplaces, payments, and social networks. Reid likes to work with products that can reach hundreds of millions of participants and businesses that have network effects. An accomplished entrepreneur, executive and angel investor, Hoffman has played an integral part in building many of today's leading consumer technology...
Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. Starting in 1980 Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM allowing Microsoft to sell its software package with the computers IBM manufactured. Microsoft is widely used by professionals worldwide and largely dominates the American corporate market. Additionally, the company has ventured into hardware with consumer products such as the Zune and...
LinkedIn is a free business social networking site that allows users who register to create a professional profile visible to others. Through the site, individuals can then maintain a list of known business contacts, known as Connections. LinkedIn users can also invite anyone to join their list of connections. LinkedIn offers an effective way by which people can develop an extensive list of contacts, as your network consists of your own connections, your connections' connections (2nd...
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