Satya Nadella says that you are no longer just a simple customer

Jul 11, 2014 17:55 GMT  ·  By

There's no doubt that Satya Nadella brought forward a completely new vision for the software giant that has until now been guided under a principle which pushed it towards devices and services.

At the same time, if we're looking at the current market share numbers in the mobile and tablet market, it's pretty obvious that Microsoft could have done better, while both Google and Apple continue to lead the business.

But that's what Nadella is trying to change while at the helm of Microsoft.

In a long but worth-reading email sent to employees yesterday, Nadella explained that Microsoft must become a mobile-first, cloud-first company, which pretty much means that Steve Ballmer's strategy, which pushed the firm towards an increased focus on devices and services, was no longer relevant.

In an interview with The Verge, Nadella explained that he had already found a way to challenge the domination of Google and Apple, and explained that although the company indeed had to perform better in the United States, there were methods to achieve a significant share increase on the short term. And Microsoft will use them, that is.

Nadella said that, as compared to other companies, for Microsoft the “consumer” is not “just a consumer,” as it tries to provide devices and services that would help them do certain things faster and easier. Microsoft is trying to become part of your life, and offering you services that could help you with most of the activities you do every day is the key to success.

“I fundamentally believe that it's most important to us to convince consumers. You're defining the market as ‘It's already done, Apple and Google have won, because they won the consumer side.’ And I'm going to question that. I'm going to say ‘No, any thinking consumer should consider Microsoft because guess what, you're not just a consumer. You're also going to go to work, you're also going to be productive and we can do a better job for you in there.’ And that's what I want to appeal to,” Nadella said.

Microsoft's CEO already said in yesterday's email that consumers would become the core of everything, and explained that he wanted the company to become obsessed over them. A series of changes would come, he said, but more details on what that actually means are expected to be provided in a couple of weeks when the firm would unveil its quarterly financial results, Nadella concluded.