14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has often been criticized for focusing more on the enterprise and less on consumers, but the outgoing CEO claims that the software giant is actually one of the biggest consumer companies out there.
Ballmer talked about Microsoft’s efforts in the consumer market during the Gartner Symposium ITXpo, explaining that both Google and Apple are powerful companies investing big on consumer businesses.
"People are people. They are people in their work and personal personas. Consumers want to have an integrated life,” Ballmer explained, while emphasizing that Microsoft is working to reduce the gap between enterprise and consumers in its products.
"Our most ambitious competitors are trying to compete in all the same areas that we are. We have more success in more areas than anyone else does,” he also said.
Ballmer has further mentioned that Google, Apple, and Amazon are its top competitors, explaining that Microsoft is now moving the focus on some key markets, such as hardware and services.