Satya Nadella: Microsoft doesn't define mobile by market share but by mobility and people

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated this week that, in terms of their plans for the mobile technology industry, he doesn't want to define its success by market share percentages but by mobility and by the individual using mobile devices, rather than the device itself.

Nadella made those remarks on Monday at a luncheon meeting of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. GeekWire reports that, when asked by Seattle Chamber President and CEO Maud Daudon, "How do you see yourself positioning Microsoft to increase its market share to become an even stronger competitor?, he replied:

"When we define mobile in the marketplace, we don't think of it by today's market share positions on a given form factor. Devices and device sizes will come and go, even within a single year, you will be changing multiple phones. It's more about the mobility. In fact, if there's anything central to our vision, it's don't think of the device at the center, think of the individual, the people at the center. And then have the platforms and productivity experiences get built with that at the center."

Nadella added that while mobile hardware devices, including some that have not yet been created, will come and go, the one constant for users will be "your digital memories, your productivity experiences across all of those devices. That's really the center of how we think about innovating today and into the future." He also pointed out that Microsoft has software and services on mobile devices that are not just on Windows Phone such as Skype, Office and now Minecraft.

While Nadella's answer was a bit vague, it is in keeping with his overall vision of "mobile first, cloud first" for Microsoft. Do you think that the hardware market share numbers is less important for Microsoft than its plans for offering its services and software?

Source: GeekWire

John Callaham