AllThingsD » Steve Ballmer http://allthingsd.com Sat, 26 May 2012 01:15:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 Microsoft Earnings Surprisingly Better Than Expected http://allthingsd.com/20120419/microsoft-earnings-surprisingly-better-than-expected/ http://allthingsd.com/20120419/microsoft-earnings-surprisingly-better-than-expected/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:15:45 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=198229 Well, what do you know. Microsoft’s fiscal third quarter earnings surpassed analyst expectations.

Posting financials after market close Thursday, the company reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of $5.11 billion, or 60 cents a share, on $17.41 billion in revenue.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, on average, had expected the company to report revenue of $17.18 billion — up 4.6 percent from a year ago.

Driving the beat: The majority of Microsoft’s various divisions, which all posted revenue increases, save one. Strong Windows 7 adoption allowed the company’s Windows and Windows Live Division to post revenue of $4.62 billion, a 4 percent increase over the year prior. Its Server & Tools business posted $4.57 billion in third-quarter revenue, a 14 percent increase from the year prior. Revenues were up 9 percent at Microsoft’s Business Division which reported $5.81 billion in revenue. And they were up 6 percent at Online Services, which posted $707 million in revenue.

That leaves Entertainment & Devices, which was the big loser this quarter. It posted revenue of $1.62 billion, a decrease of 16 percent. Evidently, some of the shine is starting to come off the Kinect.

Microsoft is revising operating expense guidance downward and now offers a range of $28.3 billion to $28.7 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2012. Microsoft also offers preliminary fiscal year 2013 operating expense guidance of $30.3 billion to $30.9 billion, representing 6 percent to 8 percent growth from the midpoint of fiscal year 2012 guidance.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120419/microsoft-earnings-surprisingly-better-than-expected/feed/ 0 Slower Windows Sales Dent Microsoft Earnings http://allthingsd.com/20120119/slower-windows-sales-dent-microsoft-earnings/ http://allthingsd.com/20120119/slower-windows-sales-dent-microsoft-earnings/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:17:06 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=165595 Microsoft saw its total quarterly earnings dip from a year earlier, as revenue was dented by a decline in Windows sales.

The software maker said it earned $6.62 billion, or 78 cents per share, on revenue of $20.89 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31. That compares to earnings of $6.63 billion, or 77 cents per share, on revenue of $19.95 billion.

The unit that includes the software maker’s flagship Windows business had revenue of $4.74 billion, a 6 percent drop from a year ago. The business division, which includes Office, posted revenue of $6.28 billion, up 3 percent from a year ago.

Microsoft’s online services division, which includes the Bing search engine, saw a narrower quarterly loss as revenue rose from a year earlier. The unit still lost $458 million, but that was less than a $559 million loss a year ago as revenue increased to $784 million from $713 million.

“We delivered solid financial results, even as we prepare for a launch year that will accelerate many of our key products and services,” CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement. “Coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show, we’re seeing very positive reviews for our new phones and PCs, and a strong response to our new Metro style design that will unify consumer experiences across our phones, PCs, tablets, and television in 2012.”

The company’s only guidance in its press release was that it plans to trim operating expenses for the fiscal year ending in June to $28.5 billion, down from a prior forecast of $28.9 billion.

The company ended the quarter with $51.7 billion in cash and short-term investments, down $1 billion from June of last year.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120119/slower-windows-sales-dent-microsoft-earnings/feed/ 0 The Chat I Had With Stephen Elop as We Both Nearly Missed Final Ballmer-Note http://allthingsd.com/20120113/the-chat-i-had-with-stephen-elop-as-we-both-nearly-missed-final-ballmer-note/ http://allthingsd.com/20120113/the-chat-i-had-with-stephen-elop-as-we-both-nearly-missed-final-ballmer-note/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:44:06 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=163625 As I noted in my liveblog of Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote, I barely made it in, as the speech was packed.

That they almost didn’t let in a reporter running late is hardly noteworthy. However, also initially rebuffed was the guy I was with — Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. I even managed to snap this fun photo of the former Microsoft division head being turned away:

You’d think Microsoft would have wanted to make sure that their No. 1 Windows Phone partner was front and center — if not on stage — for the speech. That’s doubly true, considering Nokia’s phone was one of the few bits of news Microsoft was making that day.

That said, Elop and I both made it in, eventually. I called someone, but I am quite sure Elop might have been able to pull a string or two, if he wanted to. But, to his immense credit, he didn’t once turn to anyone — as many executives would have — and bellow, “Don’t you know who I am?”

Anyway, that’s the fun cocktail story. Here’s what Elop had to say during our interview:

First off, he said that the Lumia 900, introduced at the show, reflects Nokia’s commitment to designing products specifically for North America. He wouldn’t rule out the large-screen Windows Phone shipping elsewhere, but said its LTE radio and big screen were things that the company knew were needed in the U.S.

“The operators, particularly AT&T and Verizon, are competing on the basis of their new 4G networks,” Elop said.

But, no, I couldn’t get him to say when it would ship, or what it will cost.

“We’re not quite ready to provide the exact date or the exact pricing,” he said. “We clearly intend to be quite aggressive (on price).”

But, he said, the important thing is that the devices are in good shape.

“There are real devices,” Elop said, noting that he has been carrying one of the phones for a while. Elop and Nokia staffers have been using the Lumia 900 devices for a bit now, but have cloaked them to avoid letting the new design leak out. “Now we can take off the rubber devices we’ve all been using, to use the devices in public.”

One of the key next steps, obviously, will be transitioning from a period in which the company wanted to keep the Lumia 900 device a closely guarded secret to one in which it wants other people to discover it.

“The first obstacle — and this is one I think that we’ve nailed — is the product has to be great,” Elop said. “Someone had to do their best work for this platform and that’s clearly what we signed up for.”

Elop said the device packs Nokia’s best screen, best camera and best design.

The next step, Elop said, is getting the devices in the hands of the sales staff — at the AT&T stores and other retailers — who will decide whether to pitch that or another high-end smartphone.

“You have to seed the market with devices,” Elop said. “You have to put the devices in the hands of people. With our launches, to date, around the world, we have seeded more devices than we ever have done by far as Nokia — tens of thousands of devices, in the hands of store managers and sales associates.”

So would Nokia consider opening stores in the U.S.? Elop didn’t rule it out, but he noted that given the role of carriers here, it is probably less critical than in places where devices are sold unsubsidized for use with any carrier.

“Particularly in a market like the U.S., being in close collaboration with AT&T, for example, is, I think, our strongest step forward,” Elop said. “That will remain, in the U.S. market, our principal approach.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120113/the-chat-i-had-with-stephen-elop-as-we-both-nearly-missed-final-ballmer-note/feed/ 0 Bloomberg Bizweek: Steve Ballmer a "Monkey Boy" No More http://allthingsd.com/20120112/bloomberg-bizweek-steve-ballmer-a-monkey-boy-no-more/ http://allthingsd.com/20120112/bloomberg-bizweek-steve-ballmer-a-monkey-boy-no-more/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:58:11 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=163105 Perhaps it is time to stop running those “Developers, Developers, Developers” videos.

Steve Ballmer is no longer “Monkey Boy,” at least according to the cover of the issues of Bloomberg Businessweek that hits newsstands on Friday.

The magazine has a long cover story on how Ballmer has quietly rebooted the software maker.

It’s a good read, with writer Ashlee Vance interviewing Ballmer over a pork chop and wedge salad at an unnamed Bellevue, Wash., steakhouse. During the conversation, Ballmer addresses both the challenges Microsoft faces as well as what it has been like for him trying to lead in the shadow of Bill Gates.

“The fact of the matter is that the new guy will never quite look exactly like the visionary founder no matter how hard they try,” Ballmer said, according to an advance copy we got our hands on. The full article should be on the magazine’s Web site in just a bit. (Update: It’s up now, here.)

Ballmer reflects on things he might have done better as well as where the company is going, including a critical “reset” this year, as the company debuts Windows 8 — arguably the most significant shakeup of Windows in its history.

In the piece, Netflix chief — and Microsoft board member — Reed Hastings calls Ballmer “the most honest, self-critical, self-aware person I have ever met.”

“I think he embodies a key quality of a great leader, which is he cares more about the company than himself,” Hastings said. “He’s willing to be open and drive improvement instead of being defensive.”

It also notes that, despite the criticism of where Microsoft has fallen short, he has managed to create greater annual profit growth in his tenure (16.4 percent) than either GE chief Jack Welch (11.2 percent) or IBM’s Lou Gerstner Jr. (2 percent).

There are a few newsy nuggets as well, such as the fact that Microsoft plans to open 75 more of its own retail stores over the next three years. It currently has 14.

So, should we give the Monkey Boy thing a rest?

Ballmer did use his “Developers, developers” line this week, though without the enthusiasm of the original. So I think we’ll keep calling him Monkey Boy.

Since I know you want the videos, here you go.

The classic:

And here’s this week’s iteration, as captured by yours truly, on an iPhone:

Correction: The article hits newsstands on Friday, not Thursday. In any case, you can read it online in just a bit, I’m told.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120112/bloomberg-bizweek-steve-ballmer-a-monkey-boy-no-more/feed/ 0 Nokia Could Sell 37 Million Windows Phones This Year http://allthingsd.com/20120111/nokia-could-sell-37-million-windows-phones-this-year/ http://allthingsd.com/20120111/nokia-could-sell-37-million-windows-phones-this-year/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:15:27 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=162693 If 2011 was the year of Windows Phone’s slow slog to market, 2012 may be the year of its breakout.

With a decent selection of handsets in the marketplace — including Nokia’s newly announced LTE device, the Lumia 900 — Windows Phone is poised for some respectable market-share gains, particularly if Microsoft promotes it as aggressively as some expect it to.

Indeed, Morgan Stanley expects shipments of Nokia’s new Windows Phones to hit 37 million units in 2012, and 64 million units in 2013.

Add to this Morgan Stanley’s estimates for HTC’s Windows Phone handsets, and you get shipments of 43 million this year and 74 million the next. And that’s just those two OEMs alone. There are a few others for which the research house doesn’t provide estimates. Samsung, for example.

Pretty good, considering Microsoft’s smartphone efforts to date, and Windows Phone’s youth. One could argue that it’s unrealistic to expect blowout sales from these first Windows Phone smartphones, particularly given the market power of their competition — the iPhone and a growing array of Android handsets. Microsoft was never going to just stroll into the smartphone market with a slick OS and convert legions of consumers who have been ignoring it for years.

And the company knows it.

“We’ve got a lot of room to go in selling Windows Phones,” CEO Steve Ballmer said during his remarks at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this week. “But I feel very much like the work we’re doing is really going to pay off.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120111/nokia-could-sell-37-million-windows-phones-this-year/feed/ 0 Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game http://allthingsd.com/20120110/kinect-helps-keep-aging-xbox-at-the-top-of-its-game/ http://allthingsd.com/20120110/kinect-helps-keep-aging-xbox-at-the-top-of-its-game/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:23:37 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://allthingsd.com/?p=162252 Turns out the big consumer electronics highlight of Microsoft’s final CES keynote last night was the six-year-old Xbox.

Microsoft was proud to announce that over its lifespan, more than 66 million consoles have been sold and that 40 million users have signed up for an Xbox Live membership.

To be sure, the Xbox continues to be one of the top-selling videogame consoles, beating both Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii for the past year.

But breathing new life into the device is the motion-controlled accessory called the Kinect, which was introduced right before the holidays in 2010.

Microsoft provided a sales update last night for the Kinect, saying it has now sold 18 million of the units, which represents about one in four Xbox owners. The last update — that 10 million had been sold — was provided 10 months ago when Microsoft said the Kinect shattered the Guinness Book of World Records for fastest-selling consumer device ever.

But the device’s future is a little hazy.

On the Xbox, one of the most popular use cases has been to play dance simulation games. The controller has yet to break substantially into the more hardcore titles. More recently, Microsoft has made it clear that the Kinect will be an integral part of the user interface by providing a wider selection of entertainment options in the living room.

On Dec. 6, the company rolled out a free update to Xbox Live that allowed people to use the Kinect to conduct a Bing search to find games, music and video across several providers. The user interface also allowed people to control the box with voice commands instead of the game controller.

During the keynote, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer announced the Kinect will be coming to Windows on Feb. 1.

In a follow-up blog post, Microsoft said the hardware will have to be optimized for the Windows platform, and the price will reflect that. The Windows-based device will cost $250, more than double the price of the Kinect for Xbox, currently $120 on Amazon.

Microsoft also points out that it can mark down the cost of the hardware for the Xbox because it is subsidized by the purchase of games.

The biggest change to the hardware perhaps is that the camera will be able to see objects as close as 40 to 50 centimeters away from the device, whereas the Xbox version requires you to stand a few feet away from the TV and use most of your living room.

Microsoft also said Kinect for Windows will support gestures and voice on Windows Embedded-based devices, such as systems in manufacturing, retail and other industries.

There will be a slightly cheaper version, priced at $150, for qualifying educational users, to fuel additional innovation on the platform.

Coming up with compelling reasons to buy the technology will be important, especially since Microsoft is charging such a premium price.

MORE CES NEWS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120110/kinect-helps-keep-aging-xbox-at-the-top-of-its-game/feed/ 0 Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote http://allthingsd.com/20120109/microsoft-phoning-in-its-last-keynote/ http://allthingsd.com/20120109/microsoft-phoning-in-its-last-keynote/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:30:25 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=161282 Well, maybe it is a good thing that Microsoft plans to make this Consumer Electronics Show keynote its last.

The company isn’t making much news during Steve Ballmer’s speech, which is due to start any minute now.

Arguably the biggest news is already out — the company’s phone announcements with Nokia and AT&T.

Ballmer is also expected to toss out some numbers showing how well it is doing with Xbox console and the Kinect add-on that allows one to play games without a controller.

Beyond that, Microsoft will show a demo of Windows 8, but there probably won’t be much new from what the company showed developers last fall at its Build conference. A beta version of the operating system is due next month; though, again, Microsoft had already said that.

But I can’t help but think that this need not have been Microsoft’s Vegas fate.

I’m not saying that Steve Ballmer could have been the next Rita Rudner or Wayne Newton. But, surely there is enough interesting stuff things on in Redmond to put on one good show a year.

They could pull some of the amazing stuff cooking in their labs, preview some games and show a bit of where Windows is headed.

But, alas, they haven’t done that for many years. Bill Gates used to do that. Sure, not everything he predicted was a hit (think stylus-based tablets, smart watches and Internet appliances). But at least there was something new.

That said, Microsoft is promising that this year’s show should at least be entertaining. If you want to follow along, check out AllThingsD’s innovative live blog, which combines the Ballmer-note with the ongoing BCS championship football game. Hopefully, at least one will keep you entertained. (Or at least that we do, even if the on-field heroics are less than memorable.)

MORE CES NEWS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120109/microsoft-phoning-in-its-last-keynote/feed/ 0 Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer's Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D http://allthingsd.com/20120109/coming-up-live-ballmers-last-act-in-vegas-and-the-bcs-championship-in-3-d/ http://allthingsd.com/20120109/coming-up-live-ballmers-last-act-in-vegas-and-the-bcs-championship-in-3-d/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:45 +0000 Ina Fried and Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=161375 Yep, you read that right.

Let’s face it, there are plenty of places to read about Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote. And, if you wanted to, you could watch the whole darn thing.

But it’s probably not going to be worth your undivided attention. Fret not — we here at AllThingsD agree. So, here in Las Vegas, we’ve decided to combine Ina Fried’s live blog of the final Ballmer keynote with reports from Lauren Goode, who will be at an ESPN event checking out the BCS National Championship game — in 3-D.

That way, when Ballmer starts yammering on, we can check in on ‘Bama and LSU. And when the football game pauses for yet another five-minute instant replay, you can learn a little something about Windows 8 or Xbox.

And even if not much is happening at either one, count on Lauren and Ina to keep you entertained.

The festivities should kick off around the same time the football game does, at 5:30 pm PT, and keep going until the end of the fourth quarter — or longer, if Ballmer or the game goes into overtime.

5:21 pm: All right, folks. After some issues getting Wi-Fi in the Hilton Theater, I’m getting ready to liveblog the BCS game for you (with a hat tip to Engadget, who helped out with a Wi-Fi code).

(And this is Lauren, by the way, at the theater at the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino — formerly known as the Las Vegas Hilton, home to Elvis and Barry Manilow. Ina’s coming to you from the Microsoft keynote at the Venetian. We’ll be sure to ID ourselves along the way!)

Right now, some ESPN execs are talking about the “true 3-D experience” while we gear up for the game. So in the meantime, I’ll provide some context.

5:25 pm: Here’s what you need to know about this bowl game: 1. It’s Alabama versus LSU. They’re both very good. That’s why they’re in the championship. 2. Disclaimer: I know very little about college football. (I did play collegiate sports, but not football.) I will do my best to keep you posted on the developments of this game. 3. I’m told Tim Tebow will not be playing in this game, which confuses me, because I follow Twitter trending topics and he seems to be a shoo-in when it comes to football game days. 4. This game will be broadcast in 3-D!

Marchon has provided 3-D eyewear for the event. I’ve just put mine on. Big football players now look bigger. Midfield SkyCam hovering above coin toss right now.

And yes, I was joking about Tim Tebow. Sort of.

5:29 pm: So I’m also told — by guy friends who watch college football, as well as by sources close to Google search — that LSU has an incredibly fast team. LSU and Alabama were matched up earlier in the season; it was a low-scoring game, and LSU squeaked by with a W. In the meantime, though, ‘Bama’s offense has improved. Tonight’s should be an excellent game.

Side note: I wonder what Steve Ballmer looks like on a 3-D screen …

The Hilton Theater — which technically may not be the Hilton Theater anymore, since the hotel just changed its name — anyway, the theater is actually pretty full. Everyone is wearing their 3-D glasses. But remember, it’s early. The last time I watched a sporting event in a 3-D theater — hockey at Madison Square Garden — I noticed a lot of people removing their glasses and tiring of the screen by the second period.

5:34 pm: Update: I’ve just been told by ESPN PR that Wi-Fi is down in the whole building here. Just in time for CES!

5:37 pm: So far, of the 10 3-D cameras used in this telecast, the best viewing angles seem to be the ground-level views, especially the one from the sideline. That may be ESPN’s 3-D “Ultra Slo Motion” camera.

5:39 pm: Going to break, with LSU in possession of the ball. I was wondering whether the commercials would be in 3-D as well — and, in fact, they are.

5:41 pm: While we’re in a commercial break, a little info about the kind of 3-D glasses we’re all wearing: They’re known as “passive” lenses, as opposed to active-shutter 3-D glasses, which create the 3-D image by rapidly shuttering the left eye and then the right eye. Passive — a.k.a. polarized — 3-D glasses are cheaper, look a lot like sunglasses, and work by allowing different levels of light into each eye. Note that these are different from the anaglyph cardboard glasses you might have worn at the movies as a kid.

5:39 pm: Ina here. I’m having a quick chat with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop before the Ballmer-note begins.

Indeed, Nokia’s announcement of the Lumia 900 Windows Phone is one of the biggest CES goings-on for Microsoft.

Ballmer appeared twice today already to talk about it, first at AT&T’s event in the morning, and then, just a couple hours ago, at Nokia’s event.

5:43 pm: And we’re back. LSU has made a couple little mistakes here to start, according to the game announcers, but right now, all I’m seeing is a pig-pile of red and yellow uniforms around the 20-yard line.

5:47 pm: Just asked a fellow theatergoer what he thought of the 3-D. So far, so good, he said, but we both noticed that the line-of-scrimmage line at the first down — that yellow line you see move across the screen during football broadcasts — seems to be missing from this one.

Other graphic elements, though, like name chyrons and stat charts, really jump out in 3-D.

Ah, there’s the yellow augmented reality line on the field. But it’s less noticeable.

5:51 pm: Lauren again. Other tidbits about this 3-D game: It’s ESPN 3D’s 188th telecast overall, and 39th 3-D football game over two seasons. The commentary, however, is the same commentary the 2-D “normals” at home are hearing.

ESPN now touting X-Games in a 3-D commercial. Must admit: Snowboarding looks pretty great in 3-D.

5:56 pm: Alabama’s defense looking to squelch Jordan Jefferson. That’s what I can tell from this. (See how much I know about college football?) Alabama seemingly has learned a bit from last matchup.

Jordan Jefferson currently unavailable for comment on what he thinks of 3-D broadcast.

Yet another commercial. These guys get a lot of breaks. I mean, basketball players don’t stop every time they run up the court. Well, some of them do.

6:01 pm: Ooh, a flag thrown!

Doesn’t look any different in 3-D, though.

6:03 pm: Actual game update: LSU’s making a lot of mistakes. Someone on Alabama is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury. Alabama’s up 3-0, with about a minute left in the first quarter.

6:05 pm: First quarter concludes with quite a completion from Alabama, who have a 3-0 lead.

Now the announcers on TV are giving us a shout-out here at CES. Audience cheers — loudest cheers I’ve heard so far here today.

6:08 pm: A little more info about just some of the 3-D gadgetry used to broadcast this game:

There’s a SkyCam that carries both 3-D and 2-D cameras developed for ESPN 3D, a 3-D Ultra Slo Motion camera on a cart that moves along the sideline developed for ESPN 3D, three miniaturized handheld 3-D cameras, and a 3-D game camera on a 28-foot-high mast on a cart that moves along the sideline to stay close to the action.

6:09 pm: People are cheering! Something just happened! Some sort of fake-out, I think, in which Alabama ran the ball. That was crafty.

LSU is challenging the call, it seems. 3-D does not enhance challenged calls, FYI.

Aaaaand another commercial. I wonder how it’s going on Ina’s side, at the Microsoft keynote event.

6:16 pm: Alabama free throw blocked! I mean, field goal. Alabama was kicking.

6:17 pm: What I want to know is: Where are the vuvuzelas at these events?

6:21 pm: Just asked another attendee what he thinks of the 3-D. “Outstanding,” he said. (He also said he doesn’t work for ESPN, when I asked.)

6:26 pm: Lauren again. About nine minutes left in the second quarter, and no changes to the scoreboard.

Regarding my 3-D experience so far: The glasses I’m wearing are comfortable, and I don’t feel the urge to take them off yet. And I’m enjoying the 3-D, although despite the crisp RealD screen and cool depth of field from certain angles, there’s still something dizzying about some shots.

6:32 pm: Jeremy Shelley up to kick a 34-yard field goal … and it’s good!

Nice three-pointer from outside the perimeter! Or something.

Alabama’s now up 6-0.

6:35 pm: According to the announcers, Alabama gave up kickoff returns for touchdowns their past two games. This game is far from over. And it’s still very three-dimensional.

6:37 pm: Still Lauren here. Ina’s having some Wi-Fi issues from the Microsoft keynote event, so we’re going to try to keep you updated as best we can from there.

6:42 pm: ESPN now showing a quick Alabama highlight reel from 2010. Have to wonder whether that was 2-D content (likely) that’s been up-converted to 3-D. There must be a fair amount of old footage converted to 3-D on 3-D channels like ESPN and Discovery.

6:42 pm: Ina just sent an update from the Microsoft keynote: Ryan Seacrest is the event’s celebrity guest host. He’s worked with Bing in the past.

First Kim, Kourtney & Khloe, and now Kinect?

On the college football side, less than a minute left in the second quarter.

6:46 pm: :03 left before we head to the half. This time it’s a 42-yarder for ‘Bama’s Jeremy Shelley … and again, it’s good.

Fans waving multicolored pom-poms at 3-D camera, dizzying close-up, please, no, make it go away.

6:48 pm: At the Microsoft event, Ryan Seacrest has noted that he has to raise his voice — and chair — to be on level playing field with Ballmer.

6:48 pm: They are now talking Windows phone, Ina tells me. Ballmer holds up a phone and notes he has a missed call from Bill Gates.

“Call him back on speaker,” Seacrest quips.

6:50 pm: Ina here — been having lots of trouble connecting. Had to resort to sending iMessages to Lauren, but let me see if this works.

It’s packed here, by the way. They were turning folks away. I arrived a few minutes before the keynote with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, and we were both initially rebuffed. (I’ll tell you later abut the phone conversation I had, asking if I could bring Stephen in to see the keynote.)

6:52 pm: Back to Ballmer, who is talking about Windows Phone’s partners.

He notes first Nokia phones coming to North America, with T-Mobile starting to sell the Lumia 710 and Rogers and Telus offering the Lumia 710 and 800 in Canada. (One is carrying one, and the other, the other, I think.)

Microsoft will also start selling the Nokia Lumia 800 unlocked in its stores.

6:54 pm: Halftime here at the (formerly) Hilton Theater. I’m now watching golf promos in 3-D. That little white ball isn’t any easier to see.

Of course Ballmer is really excited about the new LTE Windows Phones coming to AT&T — the HTC Titan II, with its 16 megapixel camera; and the Lumia 900, which is coming to AT&T, though no dates have been given for either.

“We’re clearly on the right track,” Ballmer said.

6:56 pm: Talk turning to Windows 8. Seacrest notes that Microsoft faces increasing competition there, clearly from Apple, though he didn’t use the A-word.

“Nothing better than good competition,” Ballmer said. “It’s a great thing, and I’m glad we’ve got Windows.”

6:56 pm: Lauren here. In terms of 3-D sports broadcasts, football may be a relatively easy sport to shoot and produce in 3-D, given all of the space on the field.

With hockey broadcasts, the NHL in the past has had to remove rows of seats in order to squeeze 3-D cameras in at the right angles. Same with basketball: I’ve been told that to shoot basketball games in 3-D, camera ops have to squeeze in at the corner angles next to the “regular” broadcast cameras, and in some instances the sideline “Jack Nicholson” seat gets blocked.

Back to Ina at Microsoft: But things have changed, Seacrest notes.

Of course, Ballmer says. Change is a constant. Ballmer promises Windows 8 will offer a no-compromises operating system with good battery life, performance, etc., etc.

By the way, one reason it is hard to get into the keynote is all the seats clearly taken up by Microsoft’s product teams. You can tell, because whenever a product or feature is mentioned, you hear loud cheers coming from one specific section of the room.

7:00 pm: We realize our posts are running together. We’ll work to be more clear about who’s who.

7:01 pm: Hey Lauren, what’s the score, by the way?

7:02 pm: Hey Ina! It’s 9-0, Alabama. Bunch of field goals. If these guys wanted to kick all day, why aren’t they playing soccer, is my question.

7:04 pm: How’s it going at Microsoft? I’d offer to switch, just so you could get a glimpse of the 3-D, but the cab lines at CES are so long you probably wouldn’t make it in time.

7:03 pm: Good question. Sorry I am missing it. We’re getting a demo of Windows 8 here, but it’s the same stuff we saw at the Build conference, and even at D9 before that.

It’s like watching last year’s BCS game.

7:07 pm: Ina, at last year’s Microsoft keynote ,you might remember they called upon the double-rainbow Internet meme. Here at the BCS game, the ESPN announcers are all about the Honey Badger meme. Oy.

7:12 pm: Lauren here. And we’re back from the half of the BCS championship game.

Third down at five! Not 100 percent sure what that means, but it seems like Alabama has come back from halftime with a vengeance.

7:16 pm: Jeremy Shelley with another field goal for Alabama. And I am increasingly convinced that this football game is soccer, and I don’t mean in that way that it is outside of the U.S.

7:17 pm: Meanwhile, from Microsoft, someone should throw a flag for delay of game. Ina’s having Wi-Fi issues again, but here are her updates …

Fortunately, or unfortunately, this is basically the same Windows 8 demo we’ve seen before.

Now, moving to stuff you can currently buy: Microsoft is showing an HP ultrabook and Samsung’s Series 9 laptop (Correction: We originally said it was a tablet).

7:20 pm: Lauren here. LSU has been all over the map, offensively. They’ve got the ball again now. Crowd thinned out about during halftime, but it looks like most people returned to their seats.

We’re all still wearing our 3-D glasses.

7:21 pm: Alabama’s defense wins first down again, just a few minutes into the third quarter.

7:24 pm: For boxing fans, if you’re curious about 3-D, and you’ve got 3-D capabilities at home: ESPN says it plans to televise Friday Night Fights in 3-D, live from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino this Friday night. I won’t be here for that one. Um, darn.

7:26 pm: Back to Microsoft: There is an honest-to-goodness gospel choir, called the Tweet Choir, singing out what people have been tweeting about during the keynote.

Now the talk is moving to Xbox. And a new number: 18 million Kinect sensors shipped. Seacrest has asked Ballmer if he expected it to be where it is today when the company started.

Ballmer: “I was optimistic. I was bullish. I was patient.”

7:30 pm: ESPN announcer references “Honey Badger” again. This time, I figure out he’s talking about LSU’s Tyrann Mathieu.

7:33 pm: Ina here. Hey, Lauren, our worlds briefly collided: They demoed the ESPN app and showed the game. 12-0, huh?

7:34 pm: Microsoft is back to running laterally with a demo of voice search on Kinect — a feature that debuted last fall.

7:34 pm: Lauren here. Meanwhile, LSU and Jordan Jefferson literally give the ball away to ‘Bama. Mosely hurt by Jefferson’s tackle following the interception.

7:35 pm: At the Microsoft keynote, a few new partnerships are announced, including one with AllThingsD‘s parent, News Corp., which is bringing Fox, WSJ Live, IGN and Fox News Channel to Xbox.

More exciting to me (Ina), though, is a partnership with Sesame Workshop to make “Sesame Street” interactive.

In the demo, kids can throw coconuts to their favorite monsters, who then count them.

7:38 pm: Ina here. “Elmo’s World” is also made interactive, allowing kids to enter a crayon-drawn world. It’s coming later this year, Microsoft said, as are the News Corp. apps.

7:40 pm: This is just the beginning, Ballmer said, adding that Kinect will revolutionize far more entertainment.

Kinect is coming to Windows on Feb. 1, Ballmer announced.

7:42 pm: So, is that all Microsoft is up to? Seacrest has asked, handing off the ball to the Ballmer.

Not by a long shot, Ballmer says. He touts Ford’s Sync, Office, Skype. Bing, he notes, has reached 30 percent market share in the U.S., if you count Yahoo.

7:43 pm: Lauren here, back to the game. LSU is 0 for 6 on third downs, and that’s where they are right now. People are whooping. LSU down at the 17-yard line.

7:44 pm: At the Microsoft event, Ballmer is stressing that Windows 8 is what’s next. There is nothing more important at Microsoft, he says.

We’re at the two-minute warning, and Ballmer is running out the clock …

7:44 pm: And with that, we’re out. Microsoft keynote has wrapped.

7:45 pm: Here at the Hilton Theater, the score is 12-0 Alabama with about two-and-a-half minutes left in the third.

And Alabama’s got a first down at the 36.

7:46 pm: Lauren again. I’m going to keep the liveblog going until this game has wrapped.

7:49 pm: Another field goal for Alabama, with their go-to guy Shelley getting ready to kick. These really are happening as frequently as free throws, it seems. This time, it’s a 44-yarder. And it’s good.

I bet Jeremy Shelley was always picked first for kickball as a kid.

I wonder why there isn’t a 3-D camera from behind the goal posts, instead of in front of it. The pigskin might look cooler as it’s flying toward the crowd.

7:51 pm: Score update: 15-0, with Alabama in the lead and 20 seconds left in the third quarter. LSU’s got to turn up the fire. They need Steve Ballmer screaming in their faces, maybe.

7:53 pm: What did you guys think of the news, and non-news, from the Microsoft keynote? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

7:56 pm: Fourth quarter has kicked off. Amazingly, no one has fouled out or gotten a technical yet.

7:58 pm: When is Ryan Seacrest going to show up at the Hilton Theater to help promote 3-D? I’d welcome a Justin Timberlake appearance, too — he was part of an earlier announcement today from Myspace and Panasonic (my colleague Peter Kafka has the story on that.)

8:03 pm: Man sitting next to me just told me me he has a 3-D TV at home. Pretty sure I looked at him like he has wings and a magical horn sprouting from his forehead.

Back to the game: Alabama is getting pumped up. I know this because there’s lots of chest-bumping. Time is ebbing away — with 9:44 left in the fourth quarter — and ‘Bama’s defense is stopping LSU in its tracks.

8:08 pm: LSU’s Jefferson shows some spark — crossing the 50 for the first time today.

LSU needs touchdowns. Badly. About 6:30 left in the fourth quarter.

A Hail Mary pass to Landry, but it’s a miss.

8:13 pm: Pigskin loose on the field! (Jump ball?)

8:15 pm: Another shout-out from ESPN announcers to us folks in Las Vegas who are watching this in 3-D. Now ESPN is showing us still images in 3-D. Some are rendering the effects better than others.

8:17 pm: If Alabama wins this one — and it’s looking this way — it’s the first shutout in any BCS bowl championship game.

Second down, with Alabama working on the clock now. About six minutes left in the game.

8:20 pm: Alabama runs it into the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown!

Alabama up 21-0 now, four-and-a-half minutes to go.

8:21 pm: Jeremy Shelley misses the field goal this time. I’d still pick him first for kickball.

Readers, any questions about the 3-D broadcast? Any comments? Leave your remarks in comments below.

8:23 pm: All right, we’re winding down our FootBallmer dual-blog. LSU rushing down the field, but it’s almost futile.

8:26 pm: Announcer just said Jordan Jefferson has been made invisible this game. Now that’s the technology we should talk about. Where’s their booth at CES?

There are still a good amount of 3-D viewers here in the Hilton Theater, but it’s hard to know whether that’s for the game, or for the free beer and food.

There are about two minutes left. And ‘Bama’s got it in the bag.

8:29 pm: Final thoughts on the BCS championship series game: I’m still wearing the glasses. They’re not irritating, but I’m also in a dark theater, and not in my living room. The 3-D broadcast provided some interesting depth of field from some angles, while others were a bit of a strain on the eyes.

Alabama wins the BCS championship, behind coach Nick Saban and the young AJ McCarron.

Final score: 21-0.

8:34 pm: There’s the essential Gatorade dumping over the coach, this time in 3-D. Alabama celebrates, and the theater here is thinning out. I’m still wondering where the vuvuzelas are. And that Tim Tebow guy.

Until next time …

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120109/coming-up-live-ballmers-last-act-in-vegas-and-the-bcs-championship-in-3-d/feed/ 0 Intel Awaits Microsoft's Next Number http://allthingsd.com/20120109/intel-awaits-microsofts-next-number/ http://allthingsd.com/20120109/intel-awaits-microsofts-next-number/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:27 +0000 Don Clark http://allthingsd.com/?p=161534 Microsoft Corp. sent shock waves through the tech sector a year ago with a radical shift in strategy, a plan to develop a next generation of software that relies less exclusively on 30-year partner Intel Corp.

A year later, it isn’t clear whether the software giant’s shift will do much to improve its lagging position in mobile devices — or whether it is quite as ominous for Intel as it originally appeared.

On Monday night, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is set to return to the stage of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where he laid out the company’s plans for the new software, known as Windows 8. He isn’t expected to demonstrate any new features or give details about its progress.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120109/intel-awaits-microsofts-next-number/feed/ 0 Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show http://allthingsd.com/20111221/microsoft-pulling-out-of-ces-after-this-year/ http://allthingsd.com/20111221/microsoft-pulling-out-of-ces-after-this-year/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:06:35 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=155829 Microsoft on Monday said that Steve Ballmer’s keynote at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show will be the software maker’s last major appearance at the event.

The company has kicked off almost every CES in recent memory. Bill Gates hosted the opening night kickoff for many years, a mantle picked up by CEO Steve Ballmer since Gates moved away from his day-to-day role at the company.

Microsoft will still have meetings with key partners and customers, but won’t have a booth on the show floor or deliver the keynote speech at the event.

In a blog post, Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw noted that the company’s product announcements tend not to line up with the show’s early January timing.

That has been clear to those who have attended the keynote in recent years. Ballmer’s talks have tended to be more of a look back at recent consumer moves than a venue for major announcements.

Microsoft did use this past January’s CES to announce support in Windows for ARM-based chips, holding a separate press conference at the event.

As Apple did when it pulled out of Macworld Expo many years back, Microsoft indicated that it is leaning toward investing more in its own events.

“As we look at all of the new ways we tell our consumer stories — from product momentum disclosures, to exciting events like our Big Windows Phone, to a range of consumer connection points like Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft.com and our retail stores – it feels like the right time to make this transition,” Shaw said.

For those that want one last Ballmernote, though, Microsoft is going ahead with its talk at the 2012 CES, kicking off the show on January 9.

Update: The Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on CES, said in a statement that it wishes Microsoft well, and has plenty of companies interested in Microsoft’s prime booth space.

Here’s the full statement from CEA:

In the fourteen years that we have invited Microsoft to deliver a keynote address at CES, the company has unveiled some great innovations, from operating systems to gaming platforms to mobile technologies. Both CEA and Microsoft have agreed that the time has come to end this great run, and so Microsoft will not have a keynote at the 2013 CES.

The International CES is widely recognized as the world’s best stage for technology debuts, and each year we experience incredible demand from the world’s leading technology companies for invitations to keynote at CES. We will announce our amazing lineup of keynoters for the 2013 CES beginning in the early summer of 2013.

Microsoft has also informed us that, although their plans for the 2013 CES are not yet finalized, they will not request the Central Hall
exhibit space that they have used in past years. Given the huge success of the 2012 CES, with more than 1.8 million net square feet of exhibit space (the second largest show floor in our history) and more than 2,700 exhibitors, we have received expressions of interest for that space from the long waiting list for Central Hall exhibit space. Exhibitors will choose space for the 2013 CES during the 2012 show, and in past years available Central Hall exhibit space has sold out within hours.

Microsoft is an important member of CEA and we wish them all the best as they evolve their plans for new ways to tell consumer stories. We also look forward to their CES keynote on January 9, 2012.

MORE CES NEWS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111221/microsoft-pulling-out-of-ces-after-this-year/feed/ 0 Three Months After Bartz's Firing, It's Hurry Up and Wait at Yahoo (A Big Honking Update) http://allthingsd.com/20111207/three-months-after-bartzs-firing-its-hurry-up-and-wait-at-yahoo-a-big-honking-update/ http://allthingsd.com/20111207/three-months-after-bartzs-firing-its-hurry-up-and-wait-at-yahoo-a-big-honking-update/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:43:12 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=150675

“Let’s go. Yes, let’s go.” [They do not move.]

– Samuel Beckett, “Waiting for Godot”

In Internet terms, the removal of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz happened a dog’s age ago.

In fact, it was September 6.

Since then, it has felt like a slow slog, especially contrasting the situation with that of another troubled Silicon Valley giant, Hewlett-Packard, which fired its CEO Léo Apotheker and appointed a new one, Meg Whitman on September 22.

Since then, in comparison, the former eBay CEO has been like the Energizer Bunny, making a series of major and often difficult decisions, including: Holding onto its PC unit; reaffirming its controversial deal to buy Autonomy; promising a decision on the fate of its webOS unit within the next two weeks; appointing new execs; and even buying a company.

To be fair, Yahoo did acquire advertising start-up Interclick.

Otherwise, still no sale or investment deal. No new CEO. No Asia resolution. And, perhaps most importantly, no clearly articulated strategy going forward.

It’s not that Yahoo’s leadership isn’t working at it.

Some fervently insist to me that there is a “plan,” as if there is some clever game of Internet Stratego going on that I cannot possibly grok.

Mebbe — but of this I have no doubt: The Yahoo board has indeed been huffing and puffing away, weighing and measuring, considering and debating.

A lot.

Maybe I’m just too impatient. I am (ask my kids).

Or maybe Yahoo’s beleaguered employees are, one of whom just wrote me plaintively, “unreal how they can drag this out,” in what has become a common refrain up and down the ranks.

Or maybe it’s the Asian partners, Alibaba Group and SoftBank, who are antsy and have considered a variety of nuclear options in order to get back stakes Yahoo holds in them. Said one: “The strategy seems to be to frustrate and exhaust us into submission.”

Or, finally, maybe it’s the newly frustrated recent bidders for a partial stake in Yahoo, Silver Lake and TPG Capital. Declared one to me after I warned that Yahoo might, in fact, drag the proceedings out longer than you might expect: “I thought you were kidding.”

Nope, welcome to the Yahoo waiting game, PE guys!

So, to help us all get through it, here’s a quick update primer on what’s what on the various fronts:

Who’s in Charge Here?

Technically, it is the Yahoo board, which is aided by interim CEO Tim Morse.

First, a word about Morse: By all accounts, he is doing a very good job as temporary head honcho — calming the troubled company, making swift decisions about daily operating issues and being a generally nice dude to deal with.

“He’s Yahoo’s no-drama Obama, in comparison to what was happening before,” said one exec, in reference to the more volatile regime under Bartz.

Still, despite his very pleasant all-hands meetings, such as one earlier this week, Morse had previously been Yahoo’s CFO and not an Internet-savvy visionary to give the company inspiration. No insult intended, but he’s the accountant guy.

To be fair, he is not meant to be the visionary, but many at the company are yearning for exactly that.

A role that is now being taken up again by co-founder, former CEO and director Jerry Yang, who dozens of employees tell me is unusually involved in operational details these days for a board member.

I get reports of sightings of him all the livelong day: Jerry in demand-side advertising confab! Jerry chitchatting with entrepreneurs from a possible start-up acquisition! Jerry weighing in on a variety of products. Look, over in the cubicle, it’s Jerry!

This is seen by Yahoo employees as a good thing and also a bad thing, since it’s hard to be running your little divisional show at Yahoo with the dude who invented it all looking over your shoulder, even if he means well. People naturally defer to Yang, the 800-pound Web icon in the room.

But, given the overwhelming state of stasis at Yahoo now — “No one can do anything until we find out how the story ends,” said one staffer — and employees eying the exits, no power at Yahoo really matters but the board.

You know, the board that has gotten the company to this moment of crisis and profound ennui, which is its own particularly ironic irony.

To better understand the power dynamics on the board, above is a little chart for you to peruse to give you an idea of which independent board member is running what key committee.

The only truly important one is the Transactions and Strategic Planning committee, which is headed by Intuit President and CEO Brad Smith and includes former Akamai President (and former Yahoo CEO candidate) David Kenny, top HP exec Vyomesh Joshi and other guy Gary Wilson.

And, in completely visible shadow form, Yang. Multiple sources close to the situation said he has been a key force in the strategery around a possible sale or investment.

This has caused not more than a little tension among board members, but everyone seems to like the much described nicest-man-in-the-room, Smith, and hopes his cool head will prevail.

Another important part of the board is the Nominating and Corporate Governance committee run by Patti Hart, who is energetically and simultaneously — if pointlessly — in search of a capable new Yahoo CEO.

Or, as I like to call this mythical person: The Unicorn.

The Deal

As I and many others have previously reported, there are bids on the table for partial investments in Yahoo by two very powerful private equity firms, Silver Lake and TPG Capital.

It’s a PE rumble, with a side of Microsoft financial backing! (I think Silver Lake’s Egon Durban makes a very nice Riff, while Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer is the perfect Officer Krupke.)

My fervent wishes for some figurative and dance-accompanied knife-play aside, the bids are essentially the same in general and different in particular. Silver Lake is offering about $16.50 a share, while TPG is dangling a tiny bit more. Silver Lake has power entrepreneur and VC Marc Andreessen on its side, while TPG is trying to get Silicon Valley fave investor and start-up whisperer Reid Hoffman of Greylock Partners and LinkedIn on its team. Both have ideas on CEOs, strategy and what to do about the Asian assets.

This type of deal could happen suddenly and you’ll hear about it quick, since the losing side will immediately trash it to the media.

As you might expect, each director has their favorite PE firm, with some not liking Andreessen, some thinking the TPG bid is a little light, some for a whole-company deal and some wanting Yahoo to hire its own CEO and run the place itself.

Of course, the last one shows a disturbing level of denial and should be a nonstarter, given the board’s abysmal record on CEO choice and its riding of Yahoo to this sad point in its storied history.

Here’s what to expect on the PE front: A lot of wrangling behind the scenes with frequent leaks to the media about what each side wants and will not yield on.

CEO choice or no CEO choice, that is the question!

Also a big factor are Yahoo’s major shareholders, few of whom like the partial investment deal, which is known as a PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity), because of the insiderness of it all and because they prefer a whole-company sale at a higher price.

There is also pressure from activist shareholders like Daniel Loeb of Third Point, who has attacked Yang and others on the board and is ready to pounce with a proxy fight if Yahoo tries to override shareholders too egregiously. And, of course, the inevitable lawsuits over any arrangement that seems to block a whole-company bid.

That said, such a mega-deal seems unlikely, since it is too pricey and despite a lot of noise that Yahoo’s Asian partners were ready to strike with a takeover in order to get back Yahoo’s big stakes in their companies.

That’s kind of like buying a store to get back the cool pair of shoes you sold, but bankers love to scheme up this stuff. While it certainly could happen, it would be a bear of a deal.

Perhaps more like Yogi Bear, hopelessly angling for a tasty pic-a-nik basket — but grrrr anyway.

But perhaps the biggest factor in all of this mishegas is time. There is none on a lot of levels, most especially the increasing level of brain drain and drift at Yahoo. After the New Year dawns, this is going to spin right out of control and amount to the biggest internal challenge Yahoo faces.

An Asian Solution

As I and others have reported, Yahoo is entertaining yet another proposal to sell all or part of its Asian assets back to the companies, which make up a bulk of its market valuation.

The relationship between Yahoo and its Asian partners has long been fraught, and today the difficulty of reaching an agreement remains a vexing issue. That’s because it is hard and complex and because no one wants to do what the other side wants.

I am no tax attorney, but it seems as if Yahoo will ultimately come to some deal with China’s Alibaba and Japan’s SoftBank, which could include big investors like Russia’s DST Global.

And, as I reported last week, the Asian partners want to strike a deal with the current board rather than lose leverage with a much cannier new owner.

It’s a tough decision in all aspects to strike, but would remove the focus on the fact that Yahoo’s most valuable asset is something it is not running and simply holds due to a good stock trade in years past.

Years past should be the operative thought here, since the Asian assets have nothing to do with what Yahoo needs to do with its core U.S. and global brand.

You know, the thing that allowed them to buy those lucrative Asian assets in the first place?

Strategery

And that’s the crux of all this, isn’t it? Yahoo needs a new strategy and fast.

Or it needs to clarify and hone its current strategies around advertising and media and define itself once and for all. While it often touts itself as a premier digital media company, it’s still not clear exactly what Yahoo is saying by that.

In fact, incredibly, sources told me that the board was still wrangling over the tired issue of what Yahoo is at its most recent meeting — essentially, is it a products company or a media company?

If I had to listen to that who-am-I-anyway debate again, I think I would scream, given how many important Web trends that Yahoo has whiffed in recent years, many of which were right in its own wheelhouse.

How much damage this has caused to Yahoo’s core business is a critical one to determine, with many feeling the situation is too far gone to revive it and others confident that this is simply an issue of poor execution.

I am in the middle on this one, but all the indicators of Yahoo’s business have long been heading in the wrong direction, and results in the next quarter are expected to underline this even more.

Thus, the board’s navel-gazing at this point is untoward, considering that it is presiding over the possibility of a sale that should not have had to happen in the first place. While it is not quite a fire sale, it’s no cause for celebration at all the attention, either.

In fact, it’s also pointless, since — if this all resolves as it should — the current Yahoo board will not be the one determining the company’s future any longer. Remember that: This group should and will be gone for the most part.

Yahoo shareholders and employees can hope, at least.

Then, it will be up to the next group of leaders to make the very hard choices — including what are likely to be massive layoffs and radical surgery on its offerings — for what’s to come next.

In the end, that is all that will matter. Until then, as usual, you’ll have to sit tight.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111207/three-months-after-bartzs-firing-its-hurry-up-and-wait-at-yahoo-a-big-honking-update/feed/ 0 Ballmer Didn't Necessarily Say Full Windows Is Coming to Phones, but Might It? http://allthingsd.com/20111115/ballmer-didnt-necessarily-say-full-windows-is-coming-to-phones-but-might-it/ http://allthingsd.com/20111115/ballmer-didnt-necessarily-say-full-windows-is-coming-to-phones-but-might-it/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:11:03 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=144369 Much is being made over Steve Ballmer’s statements Tuesday at Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting, which some have taken to indicate that Microsoft plans to bring Windows 8 to the phone.

While answering a question about whether or not we are in a post-PC era, Microsoft’s CEO insisted that Windows would continue to be at the center of things.

“We are in the Windows era,” Ballmer said. “We were, we are and we always will be. That’s kind of what we get paid to do.”

Here’s where things get a little tricky. During the next part, Ballmer talked about several initiatives that the company has going on around Windows and makes some comments that at least one reporter took to mean that Windows 8 is coming to the phone.

Here’s what Ballmer said (I’ve used ellipses to mark where there are brief pauses):

“We’ve got broad Windows initiatives … driving Windows down to the phone … with Windows 8 … you’ll see incredible new form factors powered by Windows from tablets, small, large, pens, smaller, bigger, room-size displays. We are in an era in which the range of smart devices is continuing to expand. That’s a fantastic thing for Microsoft. That is a real opportunity.”

So the question is, in which phrase was he referring to Windows 8? From listening to the audio — I wasn’t in the room — it’s tough to tell whether the Windows 8 piece is part of the sentence about the phone or part of the next one. (I recommend listening to it for yourself. It’s at about 47:30 into the webcast, which is available from Microsoft’s investor relations site.)

But here’s what we do know. Microsoft is moving its phone and desktop operating systems closer together.

Things are furthest along in the look and feel department, where Windows 8’s new look bears a striking resemblance to Windows Phone 7. The Metro look that pervades the phone operating system is at the heart of the new start menu for Windows 8 that Microsoft first showed off at our D9 conference in June.

What has yet to happen is the opportunity for developers to write code once and have it run seamlessly on phones, PCs and tablets. Likewise, consumers can’t buy software that runs on all three devices.

Microsoft has made moves to separate the tools developers use to write their programs from the underlying hardware, be it PCs or phones. With Windows Phone, developers are writing their applications in either Silverlight or XNA — the tools first used to develop for the Xbox. With new-style Windows 8 apps, developers are writing in various Web languages, including HTML5 and Javascript. Microsoft is using this approach, among other things, to expand Windows to run on both traditional PC processors and those using the ARM core found in smartphones and tablets.

That leaves the door open for Redmond to make any number of changes, including moving the phone and PC to a more common architecture, without necessarily forcing developers to do another rewrite.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111115/ballmer-didnt-necessarily-say-full-windows-is-coming-to-phones-but-might-it/feed/ 0 Steve Ballmer Gets a "B" Grade From Microsoft's Board http://allthingsd.com/20111003/steve-ballmer-gets-a-b-grade-from-microsofts-board/ http://allthingsd.com/20111003/steve-ballmer-gets-a-b-grade-from-microsofts-board/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:45:36 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://allthingsd.com/?p=127860 Software giant Microsoft just filed its annual proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and it contains the assessment by the company’s board of directors of CEO Steve Ballmer.

Ballmer takes home a base salary of $682,000, and his bonus doubled it to just shy of $1.4 million. But it could have been higher. The board had the authority to award Ballmer a bonus worth up to 200 percent of his base salary and decided not to, opting instead to keep it at 100 percent.

But see, it’s not about the money. This is all the equivalent of change found under a couch cushion when compared to the worth of Ballmer’s holdings of Microsoft shares, which are worth about $14 billion or so. It’s about what Microsoft’s board thinks, especially at a time when some people have started to argue that it’s time for a change at Microsoft’s top.

There is, for instance, the issue of Windows Mobile, which Ballmer readily admits isn’t selling “as well as we would have liked.” And what about that 2 percent decline in Windows revenue?

The board’s verdict:

For fiscal year 2011, the Compensation Committee recommended and the independent members of our Board of Directors approved an Incentive Plan award of $682,500, which was 100% of his target award. The award was based on his performance appraisal and other relevant information considered by the independent members of the Board, including: Mr. Ballmer’s performance against his individual commitments; the operating income performance of the Company relative to 25 large technology companies (a group that includes most of our Technology Peers); successful product launches including Kinect for Xbox and Office 365, enhancements to Windows Azure and Bing; continued progress positioning the company as a leader in the cloud and cloud-based infrastructure; key partnerships with Facebook and Nokia; significant progress in development of the next generation of Windows; work toward the successful acquisition of Skype; lower than expected initial sales of Windows Phone 7; the 2% decline in revenue for the Windows and Windows Live Division; the need for further progress in new form factors; and an overall strong financial year in which Microsoft reported record revenue of $69.9 billion, record operating income of $27.1 billion, and record earnings per share of $2.69 representing 12%, 13%, and 28% growth, respectively.

Yay Ballmer. So how did the rest of the senior management team do? Here’s what the board says in the proxy filing.

CFO Peter Klein: He got $3.6 million, which was 120 percent of his target award, and credit for focusing on operating expenses and on the capital allocation plan, which resulted in $16.9 billion of cash returned to shareholders by way of share buybacks and dividends. He also did the due diligence on the Skype acquisition.

Kurt DelBene, president of the Microsoft Office Division: Annual revenue from the division increased 17 percent to $20 billion; Office 2010 was the fastest-selling version in the product’s history; and Office 365 got out the door. Plus Sharepoint, Exchange and Lync had “double digit growth.” Based on his fiscal year 2011 performance, DelBene received an incentive plan award of $7.25 million, 132 percent of his target award.

Steven Sinofsky, president Windows and Windows Live: Revenue is falling slightly in this group because of the decline in consumer PC sales, but Windows 8 is on the way. For all this Sinofsky, got $6.3 million or 90 percent of his target award.

Kevin Turner, COO: With Microsoft reporting annual revenue of $70 billion and operating income of $27 billion, up 13 percent, Turner earned an incentive plan award of $9.63 million, 110 percent of his target.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111003/steve-ballmer-gets-a-b-grade-from-microsofts-board/feed/ 0 Steve Ballmer's First Time On Windows 8 (Comic) http://allthingsd.com/20110916/steve-ballmers-first-time-on-windows-8-comic/ http://allthingsd.com/20110916/steve-ballmers-first-time-on-windows-8-comic/#comments Sat, 17 Sep 2011 00:21:31 +0000 Nitrozac and Snaggy http://allthingsd.com/?p=121641

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110916/steve-ballmers-first-time-on-windows-8-comic/feed/ 13 Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting 2011: It's a Windows World After All! http://allthingsd.com/20110914/liveblogging-the-microsoft-financial-analsyt-meeting/ http://allthingsd.com/20110914/liveblogging-the-microsoft-financial-analsyt-meeting/#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:10:26 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=120828

AllThingsD’s Ina Fried and I are being held hostage by nefarious Microsoft PR chieftain Frank Shaw in a soul-sapping ballroom in Anaheim, Calif. — within spitting distance of Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” ride.

The agony — especially since we are about to be entertained by a series of Microsoft execs, including CEO Steve Ballmer, at its annual Financial Analyst Meeting. Yes, it is that kind of day, which included the delightful middle seat on a Southwest Airlines flight.

Here we go:

1:11 pm: There may be forward-looking statements. Well, I should hope so.

1:12 pm: Investor relations dude Bill Koefoed is reading from letters from folks about the Windows 8 look-see, which is also going on here.

It would be touching, except it is not. But I like Bill, who probably has a thankless job, so we’ll let him knock himself out!

1:17 pm: Okay, Bill, let’s move on, although making the execs tiles a la Windows Phone is a nice touch.

1:18 pm: But, no, we go over the financial results from FY11. Double-digit revenue growth, margin expansion, tons of cash, consumers love Xbox and Kinect!

So why does the stock remain so flat? It’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in shareholders who don’t want to give Ballmer much of a break.

Actually, it’s because Wall Street is spanking Microsoft for its slowness in the smartphone and tablet space, that Google is offering Office for free and that Windows is taking a back seat to the browser. Also that cloud thing.

1:21 pm: Most of the slides, including the agenda, have been designed to look like Metro-style “live tiles.”

Note to Redmond: While the interface scales nicely from the phone to the tablet, you may be taking it a bit far.

1:23 pm: First up, COO Kevin Turner, whose speech is call “Operating Momentum.”

He comes out like a football coach and tries to make us all greet him back. I don’t want to go all Larry David here, but one of the unwritten rules of society is that you don’t make anyone under 12 years old or not in a cult do the crowd echo thing.

But, bygones! Turner talks about the strong businesses of Microsoft, especially its Business Division, which is 32 percent of FY11 revenue. The money-losing Online unit is a paltry four percent.

1:30 pm: Turner makes some comparison related to spending, like “drunken sailors.” Say what?

Moving on …

Now for some more football-coachy stuff like “Leveraging & Accelerating Our Strengths!”

Which would be Windows, for the most part.

Next bromide: “Our Cloud Leadership is a Strength!”

Says Turner: Microsoft is “all in!”

Actually, technically, it would be “all up!”

(I am channeling Larry David today. Very innnnnteresssting. Very innnnnnteresting.)

Back to Turner, who promises a “cloud that’s right for every customer.”

1:39 pm: Microsoft really does like the Metro look. It’s freaking everywhere.

1:42 pm: Now: “Embracing the Consumerization of IT!”

There are four pillars of that, including Windows 8.

And now a bit about the growth of the costly Bing and winning in the cloud against Google.

“With Office 365, ladies and gentlemen, we now have a product” to compete, notes Turner, rather gallantly.

Also, Microsoft is smacking back VMware in virtualization.

Go team!

1:46 pm: As an aside, should the consumerization of IT really have four pillars?

1:47 pm: Time for CFO Peter Klein, whose tile reads “Our Opportunity.”

Klein looks like an accountant, which is not an insult, with a reassuring, by-the-numbers tone. It is almost lulling, as Klein’s voice often is on the quarterly calls — which always end up putting my assistant Ed immediately into the nap zone, since I listen to the calls on a speaker phone in the office.

Klein begins by pointing out that the markets in which Microsoft compete will double by 2015, including in gaming and online advertising.

It begs the question: Will Microsoft get a big slug of that?

1:53 pm: Klein goes over the various markets to underscore Microsoft will.

The first up is phone, where the company is trying to break through with Windows Phone. It’s been late, but is a pretty good offering that could become stronger with its hook-up with Nokia.

Next: The big dog of Office. It’s still big, Google or no.

Then: Business Infrastructure — private clouds, public clouds, big clouds and small clouds.

Online advertising is next, which is a weak spot for Microsoft and where it continues to lose money. Which is why Klein spends 33 seconds on it, before moving to the gaming slide.

In that arena, Microsoft does shine, with Xbox and Kinect as very innovative offerings.

1:59 pm: Latest slide from Peter Klein talks about a “balanced approach to capital allocation” with three tiles below it — “invest for growth,” “return cash to shareholders” and “balance sheet a strategic asset.”

If the live tiles in the slide were indeed buttons on a smartphone, I think many in the crowd would be pushing the middle option.

2:01 pm: Peter Klein notes the company’s Triple-A bond rating. Take that, Uncle Sam!

2:02 pm: Klein hands things over to search and online services head Qi Lu.

2:03 pm: Lu, the head of Microsoft’s online unit, is one of the uber-geeks at the company and has perhaps its hardest task.

That would be competing with Google.

While the division loses boatloads of money annually in the effort, Bing has also been a very impressive offering and has been slowly gaining share.

Winning in the space is indeed, as Qi is saying, key to its future.

He brings up the Yahoo online advertising and search partnership, which has been a bit rocky for both parties.

“We had some struggles, because the undertaking is very complex,” said Qi, noting that things have gotten better. “I have confidence we will be able to unlock the economic opportunities.”

Let’s hope so, for the Online unit’s sake.

2:12 pm: Lu says that the company said that the company now has the needed horsepower to compete. But it still needs something new. “To win in search we must break through, break through from where we are,” he said. “We cannot try to out-Google Google.”

2:17 pm: We’re posting some of the key slides from Microsoft’s analyst meeting in this companion post.

2:20 pm: I’ll admit, I checked out a bit here, in which Qi outlines the basics of what Microsoft is trying to do to develop intelligence in online search.

I have heard this speech before from him and it’s a good conceptual model. Investors, of course, only care about financial results.

The message is about “solving deep human needs and delivering compelling experiences,” says Qi.

Disconnect: Wall Street only wants revenue and profits.

2:24 pm: Still, it is nice that Qi dreams so Bing, oops, big.

Next up, Servers & Tools head Satya Nadella, who used to work for Qi.

Nadella is a smoothie speaker and he quickly launches into his spiel about a strong but lesser known part of Microsoft with $17 billion in revenue.

2:35 pm: Nadella is talking about Microsoft’s SQL Server, one of those not-so-sexy big money parts of Redmond’s business. Among those using it are Visa, which built its micropayments using SQL. The next version of the database, btw, is code-named Denali.

On to Office 365 — the cloud-based version of Office. One business signs up every 25 seconds, Nadella says.

2:38 pm: Now he’s updating on Windows Azure, Microsoft’s OS in the cloud. It’s built with enterprises in mind, he says, pointing to some recent customer wins.

Budget carrier Easyjet, for example, has an internal app for their airport workers that runs on connected devices that then talk to Azure.

2:41 pm: The strategy is a mix of public and private clouds.

“In conclusion, our cloud strategy is to cloud optimize every business,” Nadella says, before giving way to Steve Ballmer.

2:46 pm: It’s either the longest or shortest FAM, jokes a golf-shirt-wearing Ballmer.

His tile: “Our Point of View.”

Ballmer has been here for the Windows 8 event and notes how well it seems to be going so far.

“We are seeing some positive reaction,” he says, posting some of the compliments from places like the “Twitter feeds.”

2:49 pm: Ballmer has an unusual way of speaking I always forget about, even though I have heard him talk eleventy-hundred times.

It is an up-and-down, sing-song style, in which he punches the heck out of some words.

Like: “World VIEW” and “Windows is AT the center.”

Which is Ballmer’s first point, because Windows is still Microsoft’s mainstay.

2:52 pm: He runs through the key themes — besides Windows — and they include: New hardware; natural interface, cloud, enterprise and consumer; and “1st party” applications, which means Office and such.

“These form some of the core elements,” says Ballmer, trying to knit it all together and make it not seem that Microsoft is the giant, confusing behemoth that many think it has become.

Ballmer is talking about getting the slowness of “mojo” in the business applications arena, but it could be said about its Windows Phone mobile strategies.

Which is next: “We haven’t sold quite as many,” said Ballmer, but notes “enthusiasm” for the platform.

2:57 pm: “I am not saying I love where we are, but I am very optimistic about where we can be,” he says. “We just have to kick this thing to the next level.”

Actually, about 12 levels. But who’s counting? (The Larry David of tech, that’s who!)

2:58 pm: Ballmer starts the every-word-LOUD about Office.

Why not? It is a huge business for Microsoft after all these years.

Ballmer calls Office “the biggest quiet opportunity.” I will admit it: I like it when a loud dude talks about quiet.

Now an Office demo of Lync, Microsoft’s unified communications offering.

3:07 pm: It is a cool demo, especially the translation part.

The Skype acquisition gets a mention too, with Ballmer noting in a modified Tony the Tiger: “It’s greeeeat.”

We’ll wait and see if Skype head Tony the Bates will deliver.

It’s soon onto Xbox and Kinect, which is decidedly great for Microsoft.

Ballmer notes there will be a lot more video and television offerings on Microsoft.

There is a demo that has some glitches, which is impressive anyway. Obviously, Microsoft is hoping Xbox becomes the home entertainment hub and discovery service (via Bing).

3:20 pm: Live TV is also a big deal, apparently, which is coming to the Xbox.

Finally, Ballmer sums it up, noting things are changing fast.

He says he gets it that investors worry if the company gets it.

“I am very optimistic about our future,” Ballmer concludes, punching NO words.

3:24 pm: It is now on to Q&A, which will also include Windows head Steven Sinofsky.

Goody, goody.

3:25 pm: First question is on whether Microsoft is bringing Office to the new-look Windows. That’s a big one.

Ballmer doesn’t firmly commit, but notes that Microsoft wants to support its platforms with applications.

“We are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro-style,” Ballmer says.

3:27 pm: Second question on which apps will work on ARM-based Windows, another key question.

Sinofsky reiterates that Windows 7 machines will be able to run all apps in Windows 8 (but of course all Windows 7 machines are Intel or AMD-based, not ARM). Apps written for x86 won’t run on ARM, but all new-style apps will work on both.

Sinofsky notes that if all older apps were allowed to be ported to Windows-on-ARM, the ARM-based systems would lose some of their advantages when it comes to things like battery life.

3:30 pm: Next question is on the opportunity for Windows Phone in the enterprise, noting that most of the recent work on Windows Phone has been on the consumer side.

“The most important thing is to capture the imaginations of people,” he says, noting that they have both work and personal lives.

He notes Mango release has some improvements for businesses.

3:32 pm: Asked if the tablet market will enter the enterprise like the phone, Ballmer notes that consumers will buy lots of different devices and there is always the question of which machines the enterprises will allow in. Some tablets will come in that way, he said.

“We embrace that concept,” Ballmer says.

Sinofsky notes that the proposition of having a tablet that can turn into a serious work computer just by adding a keyboard will have significant appeal.

As for touch, he reiterates his contention that once people use a touch-based Windows 8 machine, they will soon start touching every PC they use.

3:38 pm: Analyst asking in a roundabout way whether Microsoft expects to do better than the 10 percent annual revenue rate it has had over the last five years.

CFO Peter Klein is not biting: “Our view is the opportunity is tremendous. It’s as great as it ever has been.” But market also competitive and fast-changing.

3:46 pm: Finally, a question about Yahoo and the firing of CEO Carol Bartz and all the other uncertainty there.

While Ballmer did the online search and ad partnership deal with her, this hot potato gets handed over to Qi Lu. Thanks, Steve!

The contract survives change of control, he says. “That does not really impact day to day,” says Qi about the Bartz ouster.

Then Ballmer decides to weigh in: “Hundreds of millions of people every day using those services. … No matter where they take their business …”

In other words: He has no idea!

3:49 pm: Next! What about bottom-line growth dropping over the next few quarters?

Klein said Microsoft is focused on the long term and it was not making a guidance statement.

Ballmer: “We’ll give you no guidance. None.”

Anyway, all the markets are growing! Did we not stress that?

3:52 pm: Well, what about a new pricing strategy?

No dice!

The Microsoft execs look a little weary and in need of some cocktail fare. Wait, that’s me.

More on upgrade from Windows 7 and how all these many devices from many companies will work fine together.

Ballmer notes that Bing and Skype will continue to support Google Android and Apple iOS.

It is a small world after all!

3:58 pm: Last question!

One on Office 365 and how it is doing.

COO Turner is back as the coach of Team Microsoft: Great, just great.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110914/liveblogging-the-microsoft-financial-analsyt-meeting/feed/ 0 Ballmer: 500,000 Downloads of Windows 8 Since Last Night http://allthingsd.com/20110914/ballmer-500000-downloads-of-windows-8-since-last-night/ http://allthingsd.com/20110914/ballmer-500000-downloads-of-windows-8-since-last-night/#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:34:07 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=120774 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a surprise appearance at Microsoft’s developer conference on Tuesday, touting the importance of the company’s forthcoming Windows 8 operating system.

Ballmer noted the early enthusiasm for the product — 500,000 copies of the operating system have been downloaded since last night, he said. However, he said the company still has a lot of work to do.

“We still have a long way to go with Windows 8,” Ballmer said, noting that while much of the core operating system is in place, the company still is working on the services that will accompany Windows 8 as well as the efforts to bring it to ARM-based systems.

“It’s not going to be Intel or ARM,” he said. “It’s going to be Intel and ARM.”

Ballmer said there are all kinds of opportunities in technology, from cloud-based services to new types of devices.

“Our approach to these new opportunities is centered in Windows,” Ballmer said. “It’s not about doing something else. It’s about broadly re-imagining Windows.”

From there, Ballmer launched into a broader speech on the company’s efforts, talking about the work on Windows Phone, Windows Live and other areas of the company. Ballmer promised that the company is looking to find ways to open other of its cloud services, including Bing and Office 365, to developers.

“We’re retooling all of what we do,” Ballmer said. “To me this all adds up to an unprecedented time of opportunity for developers.”

Ballmer also tried to rally developers to put more energy on Windows even amidst a plethora of other platforms in the smartphone and tablet worlds. Windows, he noted, will ship on 350 million PCs this year.

“There is no phone, there is nothing on the tablet, there is no operating system on the planet that will ship 350 million units of anything other than Windows,” he said.

Though not announced, Ballmer’s appearance at the Build developer conference makes sense since he is due to address financial analysts later today. His talk came during a highly technical session focused on cloud services, developer tools and the server version of Windows 8.

Ballmer wrapped up his appearance by making the case that there is great opportunity for developers if they join with Microsoft in heading in some new directions.

“Let’s move forward,” he said. “Let’s seize the opportunity for ‘developers developers developers’“

He did not, however, reprise his infamous “Monkey Boy” dance.

Related posts

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110914/ballmer-500000-downloads-of-windows-8-since-last-night/feed/ 0 Mr. Ballmer's Wild Ride! Microsoft Execs Will Address Wall Street Suits Today. http://allthingsd.com/20110914/mr-ballmers-wild-ride-along-with-windows-8-microsoft-execs-will-address-the-wall-street-suits-today/ http://allthingsd.com/20110914/mr-ballmers-wild-ride-along-with-windows-8-microsoft-execs-will-address-the-wall-street-suits-today/#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:17:32 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=120523

Later this morning, I will scramble the private ATD jet to make my way down south to Anaheim for Microsoft’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting.

That’s right: A bunch of Wall Street types, asking not very challenging questions of top Microsoft execs in a ballroom perilously close to Disneyland.

Taking place this afternoon, starting at 1 pm PT, the confab will include appearances by its top execs, including CEO Steve Ballmer, CFO Peter Klein, COO Kevin Turner, Online Services President Qi Lu and Satya Nadella, who helms the Servers & Tools division of the software giant.

There will be lots to discuss at the confab, including: What is up with Microsoft’s search and advertising partnership now that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz — who struck the deal — was ousted, and whether it is involved in a possible bid for the Silicon Valley Internet giant again; an update on the Windows Phone business; prospects for Windows 8, which the company just highlighted at its huge developers conference there; questions about its nascent tablet business; comments on Google’s recent moves, including its purchase of Motorola Mobility; and, of course, how Ballmer sees his own tenure at Microsoft, given its longtime lackluster stock performance (paging investor David Einhorn!).

In other words: Mr. Ballmer’s Wild Wall Street Ride!

Look for my live blog from the event later today.

Related posts

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110914/mr-ballmers-wild-ride-along-with-windows-8-microsoft-execs-will-address-the-wall-street-suits-today/feed/ 0 As Einhorn Exits Mets, Will He Refocus on Striking Out Microsoft's Ballmer? http://allthingsd.com/20110902/as-einhorn-exits-mets-will-he-refocus-on-striking-out-microsofts-ballmer/ http://allthingsd.com/20110902/as-einhorn-exits-mets-will-he-refocus-on-striking-out-microsofts-ballmer/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:14:45 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=116513

Yesterday, David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital dumped his bid to buy the New York Mets.

“I am disappointed to announce that I will not be purchasing an ownership interest in the New York Mets baseball team at this time,” said the well-known Wall Street hedge fund manager in a statement.

Why does that matter to tech? Well, because Einhorn has been an active player in the sector of late, including buying and then dumping a big chunk of stock in Yahoo earlier this year.

He currently owns slugs of Seagate, Apple, Best Buy and, in his largest holding, almost 15 million shares of Microsoft.

Now, it will be interesting to see if he’ll put his proverbial eye back on the ball of attacking the company’s CEO Steve Ballmer, as he had been doing many months ago.

While also maintaining that the stock was undervalued by investors, for example, Einhorn said in May that the software giant had “Charlie Brown management” and that Ballmer’s “continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft’s stock.”

That did not stop Greenlight from adding more Microsoft shares to its holdings, jumping to an ownership stake of 14.8 million shares as of June 30, compared to 9.1 million shares at the end of the previous quarter.

Now that he has more time on his hands post-Mets, will Einhorn renew his Ballmer criticism?

We’ll see soon enough, as well as what Microsoft’s own outlook is, at its annual Financial Analyst Meeting later this month in Anaheim.

Ballmer, as well as a panoply of other Microsoft execs, will be making presentations there.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110902/as-einhorn-exits-mets-will-he-refocus-on-striking-out-microsofts-ballmer/feed/ 0 Bob Muglia, Former Microsoft Server Head, Lands at Juniper Networks http://allthingsd.com/20110725/bob-muglia-former-server-head-lands-at-juniper-networks/ http://allthingsd.com/20110725/bob-muglia-former-server-head-lands-at-juniper-networks/#comments Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:15:01 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://allthingsd.com/?p=102341 Juniper Networks says it has hired Robert Muglia, the former head of Microsoft’s Servers and Tools business, as the executive vice president of its Software Solutions Division.

In the new gig, Muglia will be in charge of Juniper’s software strategy and will report directly to Juniper CEO Kevin Johnson. Juniper sees its software business as a key differentiator from its larger but troubled rival, Cisco Systems.

“We are excited to have a leader of Bob’s caliber coming on board to lead Juniper’s software
initiatives, and I’m confident that his vision, management savvy and technical expertise will
bring tremendous value to our organization,” Juniper CEO Kevin Johnson said in a statement.
“As we continue to execute on our growth strategy centered on systems and software, we look forward to Bob playing a central role in extending our leadership position in network-powered software solutions.” Muglia’s first day at Juniper will be in October.

Muglia left Microsoft in January; he was the first of a series of senior Microsoft executives to depart during the first few months of the year. Microsoft later named Satya Nadella, who had previously run Microsoft’s Bing search engine business, to take over as head of the sever and tools business.

This also counts as the second time in recent memory that Juniper has hired a senior executive from Microsoft. The last was Brad Brooks, a former vice president at the Windows unit. Of course, Johnson, the CEO, is also a former Microsoft exec, having been president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division until 2008 before taking over at Juniper. Muglia worked for him for a time.

With Muglia at the new software unit’s helm, Juniper aims to tighten its focus on systems and software as the two key areas of growth for the company.

I talked briefly with Muglia about his plans for his new job. He said that the new software solutions division will bring together software that sits on top of Juniper’s Junos operating system that runs on its networking gear to make that gear easier for companies and service providers to manage.

You don’t usually think of software as being a big part of networking equipment, but as it becomes an ever more important piece of cloud computing infrastructure, that’s changing, he said. “The reality is that the network has always had a lot of software, it’s just that it tends to be embedded in the devices so you don’t see it all that often. But applications need to have more direct control over the enterprise environment. It’s getting more important to have a strong software connection between business applications and the underlying infrastructure.”

Muglia is a 23-year Microsoft veteran — his last day there will be in early September — who joined from Rolm in 1988 and was the first product manager for SQL Server. Muglia had only been elevated to running the Server and Tools Business in 2008. It’s a $14.9 billion (fiscal 2010) business, and Microsoft’s third largest division behind the Windows/Windows Live Division and the Microsoft Business Division. On Muglia’s watch, STB sales grew more than 12 percent, and operating margins went from 31 percent to 37 percent. It was never, however, anywhere near as profitable as the other two divisions: Business Division reported operating margins of 63 percent in 2010 while Windows saw 70 percent, a fact that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer pointed on in his memo announcing Muglia’s departure.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110725/bob-muglia-former-server-head-lands-at-juniper-networks/feed/ 0 Microsoft Offers Big Money to Nudge Resellers Into the Cloud http://allthingsd.com/20110713/microsoft-offers-big-money-to-nudge-resellers-into-the-cloud/ http://allthingsd.com/20110713/microsoft-offers-big-money-to-nudge-resellers-into-the-cloud/#comments Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:13:51 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://allthingsd.com/?p=97667 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made his view pretty clear in a speech to partners Monday in Los Angeles. “You need to decide if you’re coming with us.” These partners are companies who resell Microsoft software and services, and Ballmer meant to drive home the point — that the time for hemming and hawing over the cloud is over.

Of course, if Ballmer’s exhortations aren’t enough, here’s another enticement: Cold hard cash. Microsoft said today that it has committed $5.8 billion in incentives, training and tools for members of its Microsoft Partner Network to get accustomed to the new products and services and to encourage them to sell them to their customers.

One big place where it’s putting that cash is behind messaging. It’s an area where Microsoft’s Exchange platform and Outlook desktop software has been under attack lately from the likes of Google Apps, and it’s a key component of Office 365, the new cloud-based version of Microsoft Office. Partners can train up in the newly created Messaging and Communications competencies and learn all about deploying Exchange and Office 365 and its video conferencing software Lync.

In August, Microsoft says it will offer new services in software assurance and planning, essentially paying partners to help their customers deploy Microsoft’s private cloud, and its Azure public cloud service, which competes with, among others, Amazon’s Web services and IBM.

Another area of focus: Dynamics CRM, an area where there’s stiff competition from Salesforce.com, plus longer-term CRM players like Oracle and SAP. Partners are being offered 40 percent of the sale of each new subscription to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Microsoft is just a bit player in the online CRM world for now, but as history shows, it rarely stays in that position for long.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110713/microsoft-offers-big-money-to-nudge-resellers-into-the-cloud/feed/ 0 VMware CEO Paul Maritz Talks About the Cloud Monster, Microsoft and More! (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20110713/vmware-ceo-paul-maritz-talks-about-the-cloud-monster-microsoft-and-more-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20110713/vmware-ceo-paul-maritz-talks-about-the-cloud-monster-microsoft-and-more-video/#comments Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:31:11 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=97512

Yesterday, in a bid to stay ahead in the hyper-competitive virtualization space, VMware announced a major upgrade to its flagship product, vSphere, and also a range of other improvements to its offerings.

Moving fast is a good idea as the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company — which leads in the arena to bring every business to the cloud — faces increasing numbers of rivals, ranging from Amazon to Microsoft to Citrix and more.

The cloud shift is a massive undertaking for all of them, with complexity, confusion and worry over security among the many challenges in this inevitable transformation of technology.

Its CEO Paul Maritz, of course, knows all about that as one of the leading execs at Microsoft during its heyday. He led key units in charge of the tech giant’s dominant desktop and server software, from Windows 95 to Internet Explorer.

That’s why he is among the most frequently mentioned as the perfect candidate when increasingly frequent rumblings surface about who should replace its current CEO Steve Ballmer. In fact, some sources said Maritz has already been on the receiving end of initial feelers on the issue.

Still revered at Microsoft by the troops, now deeply experienced in the critical cloud computing arena and always whip-smart, Maritz-as-CEO certainly makes a lot of sense.

But the cool and calm veteran tech exec only manages an enigmatic smile when asked, and notes in his quiet and sly voice: “I believe Microsoft already has a CEO.”

Heh. In any case, Maritz has a big job to do at VMware for now and here he is talking about it all:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110713/vmware-ceo-paul-maritz-talks-about-the-cloud-monster-microsoft-and-more-video/feed/ 0 Steve Ballmer's Dr. Hyde and Mr. Jekyll http://allthingsd.com/20110712/steve-ballmers-dr-hyde-and-mr-jekyl/ http://allthingsd.com/20110712/steve-ballmers-dr-hyde-and-mr-jekyl/#comments Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:43:44 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=96722

Whenever I know Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is going to speak at a major public event, I get two feelings at once: Excited anticipation that the chances are high that he’ll say something controversial and dread that the chances are high he will say something, well, controversial.

Which is just what happened at his opening keynote speech yesterday at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, which is taking place in Los Angeles this week.

At the event, Ballmer got off several good ones, which always happen when he makes fun of himself or Microsoft products.

Most effective was the tiny market share of the very laudable Windows Phone 7, which replaced its failed Windows Mobile efforts.

Said Ballmer with verve about the situation: “We’ve gone from very small to very small…”

Funny, right? Especially when he also made it clear that he thought Microsoft had made the right bet in moving to Windows Phone 7, which was a deft way of both poking fun at the company and praising it at the same time.

Of course, like the skunk at the garden party he often can be, Ballmer also could not resist dragging out his oldest chestnut about how much bigger that PC market is than that of its longtime rival, namely Apple.

But because he’s Ballmer, he plays it cute and can’t ever seem to bring himself to actually say the name of the company that has always been top of mind at Microsoft and always has remained the target of grumbly frustration.

The solution? Pretend Apple does not exist by belittling the competitor’s weakest point.

Thus, he trotted out the usual stats about how big the PC market is in comparison — about 350 million units with the Windows operating system compared to about 20 million of Brand A.

All true, except it only makes Ballmer look petty and backward-thinking, since those 20 million represent so much more than just laptop computers.

In fact, when talking about Apple, it also means smartphones — where the iPhone dominates Windows Phone 7 handily — and also tablets, a market where there is no contest between the iPad and anyone else so far.

And it also leaves out the excitement and thrill that Apple always manages to engender among consumers, the media and techies alike when it launches new products, which will be happening just a week from now with Apple’s new MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs debut.

Because, while Ballmer can make fun of Apple’s laptop sales all he wants, it only makes him look silly rather than witty.

In fact, when you’re as big a company as Microsoft, it’s only funny when you are shooting at a behemoth like yourself over failings. Best of all, you never run out of material.

And, if you do, there’s always Google to kick around.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110712/steve-ballmers-dr-hyde-and-mr-jekyl/feed/ 0 Exclusive: Microsoft Strategy Exec Hank Vigil to Depart, Will Remain Advisor http://allthingsd.com/20110701/exclusive-microsoft-strategy-exec-hank-vigil-to-depart-will-remain-strategic-advisor/ http://allthingsd.com/20110701/exclusive-microsoft-strategy-exec-hank-vigil-to-depart-will-remain-strategic-advisor/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 21:31:44 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=93942

Microsoft’s SVP of Strategy and Partnership Hank Vigil will be leaving the software giant to focus on investing in and advising for early-stage start-up companies, according to an internal email from CEO Steve Ballmer.

But the 25-year company veteran, who will departs Microsoft in the fall, will also become a “strategic advisor” to Microsoft.
That’s probably a good idea, since Vigil is one of the company’s most visible and well-liked execs in the tech community, especially in Silicon Valley.

He also is Microsoft’s best-dressed exec, if I might be so bold to say.

Vigil has had wide-ranging jobs all over Microsoft in his many years there.

He has most recently been working directly with Ballmer, according to his company bio, “developing and managing strategic relationships, mergers, acquisitions and investment partnerships with media, consumer electronics, telecommunications, software and Internet companies.”

In that role, Vigil has worked on a range of deals, including with Facebook, Nokia, News Corp. and many others.

Previously, he worked on Microsoft’s digital TV strategy, including the acquisition of WebTV. Vigil also did marketing and business strategy for Office, Word and Excel.

In other words, Vigil knows where all the bodies are buried up at Microsoft’s Redmond HQ! And, presumably, he’ll be keeping that to himself.

Here’s the internal email from Ballmer about Vigil’s departure:

After 25 years at Microsoft, Hank Vigil has decided it’s time to open a new chapter in his life.

Hank has covered a lot of ground, from launching Excel 3 and Office 95, to our early investments in ITV, to helping restructure our relationships with Sun, Time Warner, and Real Networks, to his more recent work helping to drive new investments and partnerships with companies like Yahoo!, Facebook, and Nokia. He’s been a critical strategic advisor and bridge-builder on some of the biggest industry opportunities we’ve dealt with in recent years.

He’ll be staying on until the fall, then he intends to do some early stage investing and advising start-up companies.

While Hank is leaving the company, he’s not going too far. I’m pleased to say that Hank will continue to provide his industry insight and strategic counsel going forward as an advisor to the company.

Please join me in congratulating Hank on a quarter-century of great work, and wishing him the best of luck in his new adventure.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110701/exclusive-microsoft-strategy-exec-hank-vigil-to-depart-will-remain-strategic-advisor/feed/ 0 Ballmer Details China Piracy Problems http://allthingsd.com/20110526/ballmer-details-china-piracy-problems/ http://allthingsd.com/20110526/ballmer-details-china-piracy-problems/#comments Thu, 26 May 2011 17:35:53 +0000 Owen Fletcher and R. Jai Krishna http://allthingsd.com/?p=78926 Microsoft Corp.’s revenue in China this year will be about 5 percent of what it gets in the U.S. even though personal-computer sales in the two countries are almost equal, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in remarks that offer new details on the software giant’s struggle with piracy.

Speaking to Microsoft staff here, Mr. Ballmer rejected the argument, common in China, that many Chinese consumers use pirated software because authentic versions are too expensive. “I’m not saying everybody in China could afford to buy a PC… but if you can, you could afford the software,” he said.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110526/ballmer-details-china-piracy-problems/feed/ 0 Einhorn To Microsoft CEO: Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back) http://allthingsd.com/20110526/einhorn-to-microsoft-ceo-bon-voyage-charlie-brown-and-dont-come-back/ http://allthingsd.com/20110526/einhorn-to-microsoft-ceo-bon-voyage-charlie-brown-and-dont-come-back/#comments Thu, 26 May 2011 15:12:32 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=78807 Add Greenlight Capital President David Einhorn to the list of folks calling for Steve Ballmer’s head. Speaking at the annual Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference in New York on Wednesday, Einhorn said it is time for Microsoft’s board to replace Ballmer as CEO, saying the company cannot thrive under his “Charlie Brown management.”

It’s the irate investor, Charlie Brown!

“Ballmer’s problem is that he’s stuck in the past,” Einhorn said. “He’s allowed competitors to beat Microsoft in huge areas, including search, mobile-communications software, tablet computing and social networking. Even worse, his response to these failures has been to pour tremendous resources into efforts to develop his way out of these holes.”

A brutal assessment of Ballmer’s leadership, likening him to the world’s quintessential loser. But as Einhorn noted, the company has been slow to venture into new markets under his direction (tablets) and is losing share in others where it has fumbled the ball (mobile).

“It’s time for Microsoft’s board to tell Steve Ballmer, ‘All right, we see what you can do, let’s give so-and-so a chance,’” Einhorn said. “His continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft’s stock.”

And that may well be the case. The problem is that Einhorn’s Greenlight holds just 9 million Microsoft shares, which is 0.11 percent of those outstanding. Meanwhile, Ballmer himself holds 333 million (3.95 percent ) and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who put Ballmer in the CEO spot, owns 560 million (6.65 percent). Good luck convincing Microsoft’s two largest shareholders that one of them needs to go.

At $24.69, Microsoft shares are up more than 2 percent as I write this.

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