New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (Image courtesy of Microsoft)
Newly appointed Microsoft chief executive officer (CEO) Satya Nadella says the company is set to prioritise innovation and focus on a “mobile and cloud-first world”.
HumanIPO reported yesterday Nadella had taken over from former CEO Steve Ballmer, who has been heading the company for the past 14 years, as only Microsoft’s third CEO.
“The first thing I want to do and focus on is ruthlessly remove any obstacles that don’t allow us to innovate. And then focus all of that innovation on things that Microsoft can uniquely do,” said Nadella.
“Our industry does not respect tradition — it only respects innovation.”
The CEO hinted at Microsoft services becoming increasingly more mobile.
“We’re focused on a broader range of devices. While the deal is not yet complete, we will welcome to our family Nokia devices and services and the new mobile capabilities they bring us,”
He noted that, despite the Nokia acquisition, the company would remain focused on software.
“Everything is becoming digital and software driven. And so I think of the opportunities being unbounded.”
Nadella also emphasised the importance of broadening the company’s offering timeously, saying he sees a big port of his job as “accelerating our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly”.
He said the continuous symbiotic relationship between hardware and software will drive the company forward.
“This will be made possible by an ever-growing network of connected devices, incredible computing capacity from the cloud, insights from big data, and intelligence from machine learning,”
Nadella has highlighted his optimism about Microsoft One, a strategy outlined by Ballmer last year.
“Going forward, our strategy will focus on creating a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most,” said Ballmer.
