steve ballmer

Ever wondered what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Steven Sinofsky would sound like auto-tuned? We sure have, and so has Justin Angel, Principal Engineer for Windows Phone experience at Nokia, who has created a short montage of clips from the Surface and Windows 8 event.

We all know that Windows Phone has hit some stumbling blocks in its first year of release, so it's no surprise that Microsoft would be disappointed with how it's gone so far.  Still, when Steve Ballmer says it, it's a little unnerving.  “We haven’t sold quite as many as I would have liked in the first year,” he stated at yesterday's financial analyst meeting.

The good news is that he followed up with some words of optimism:

“I’m not saying I love where we are but I am very optimistic on where we can be,” Ballmer said. “We’ve just got to kick this thing to the next level.”

And it wasn't just canned words trying to raise spirits, but words with reasoning behind them.  While acknowledging the lackluster sales of WP7, he also noted that Microsoft had created “a very strong third ecosystem” behind Android and Apple.  He also noted that the partnership with Nokia would be a boost to the brand because they are a "dedicated hardware partner that is all-in on Windows Phones," and thus will help make the push, unlike other manufacturers who have the hands in multiple operating systems.  Nokia is set to deliver their first Windows handsets as early as Q4 of this year, but certainly in Q1 of 2012.

Another reason Ballmer should be optimistic about the future of WP7 is Mango.  We have seen that it has already started creeping out in some places, and the prospects of future devices and upgrades look very promising.  Add to all this what is coming with Windows 8, XBox and Windows Phone coming together in unison, and you have what looks like a pretty nice road ahead.  Sure, maybe we hoped for a little more from WP7 in year one, but with what lies ahead, how could you blame Ballmer for getting excited?

Source: AllThingsD

We are live at Mobile World Congress, but you knew that. Steve Ballmer is set to give his keynote at 4pm local time, which equates to 10am Eastern in the US. We hope we're going to hear details on the next version of Windows Phone, but with Steve, anything is possible. We're at the Keynote viewing party at Microsoft's digs at the Catalonia hotel, where we will not only watch the Keynote stream but also hit up Microsoft folk for questions after the event. Join us after the break!

Looks like the other shoe just dropped as our invite was delivered for the big AT&T Windows Phone 7 launch at the Microsoft Open House in NYC one week from now. AT&T in the morning, T-Mobile in the afternoon.

Not only is AT&T there, but looks like Steve Ballmer and Ralph de la Vega (President/CEO of AT&T) are to deliver the keynote speech at 9am. Steve in person? Awesome.

The rest of the day will be us roaming around, playing with Xboxes, Kinects, Bings and we just got word we'll have an opportunity "...to check out all the Windows Phone 7 devices" as we'll be meeting with several OEMs.

No doubt we're excited as this event last year was a blast and you should be excited as we'll be covering this shindig from our unique perspective as Windows Phone geeks. We'll be running a live blog, interacting with you folks on Twitter and bringing some HD quality video to you from the event all day--and it's a holiday, so hopefully you have off and can follow along!

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is in Singapore today to help promote the launch of Office 2010/Imagine Cup Awards Ceremony, nothing too surprising there.

Evidently Steve took some questions from the audience and on Windows Phone 7, he reportedly had this to say:

We're focused on putting Windows Phone 7 in phones, no plans for tablets.

With the cancellation of Courier, the uncertain future of HP's Slate and the likes of Bach and Allard leaving, what exactly is Microsoft's strategy for tablet computers going to be? We know WP7 can scale up to large resolutions and evidently has a robust enough DPI to handle a high-resolution tablet.

So was he just being cagey or legit? It's not like he would just announce a Windows Phone 7-Tablet initiative in such an offhand way. Then again, MS has made some boneheaded moves in the past, and not taking advantage of WP7 + tablets could be one of them.

Speaking of shakeups, regarding the latest to the E&D division, he also reportedly said (paraphrasing)

There will not be further changes in mobile and entertainment strategy after management shakeup

That's a relief. The whole web seems to be crackling with 'WP7 FAIL' predictions after yesterday's news.

Update: In a video interview with Fortune, Ballmer clearly states they are going with Windows 7 and not Windows Phone 7 for tablets. Can Windows 7 answer the craving for instant-on, low power, low heat and fast mobile OS that consumers demand?

[image via @hyperous]

So often in the gadget business, you know something without actually “knowing.” For example, we’ve known Windows Mobile 7 was coming for quite a while, though it is only now being confirmed. Likewise, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer making some noise at Mobile World Congress in regards to Windows Phone (potentially Windows Mobile 7) was mentioned in passing at CES (and a couple other times since then); but now it’s officially official.

According to Microsoft’s News Center, Steve Ballmer will be hosting a press conference to discuss Windows Phone at MWC. Slated for Feb. 15 -- that's next Monday -- the press conference will be streaming live and viewable from Microsoft’s Windows Phone page. After the conclusion of the press conference, an on demand version will be made available.

With as rampant as the speculation has become over WM7 and what it will or will not include, we’re not going to read much into the fact that this is only a press conference instead of a full-blown keynote. We’ll be there Monday to watch it go down.

According to Engadget, LG stated at CES press event that Windows Mobile 7 will be on devices this year. Obviously this still isn’t an official announcement from Microsoft, but LG is one of their bigger partners for Windows Phones. Might we hear something official from Steve Ballmer at his CES Keynote tonight? Rumor has it that Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s President of Entertainment & Devices Division, will be joining Steve on stage.

Tune in at 9:30pm Eastern, 6:30pm Pacific for our liveblog from the event.

Microsoft had its annual shareholders meeting on Thursday. And reading the press release, it sounds like the biggest snoozer ever.

But apparently things were a little different if you actually were there. A shareholder questioned Microsoft CEO (grilled may be a better term) Steve Ballmer on why Microsoft seems so much less cool than, say, Apple, especially when it comes to younger users. (Let's see: Exhibits A, B and C come to mind.) And the quote of the day:

"I'm just wondering why your marketing group can't do something to try to rein in this next generation, because you've got a real bad image out there."

No kidding.

Ballmer's probably as tired of that question as we are. Of course, he's in a slightly better position to do something about it. And simply deflecting talk about Windows phones — which absolutely don't get a fair shake — to Windows 7 and Office 2010 is a cop-out. The people want their phones, sir. They want their apps. They want their music. They want their video. And they want it now.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again. Microsoft has all the pieces. It's time to put them together and market them smartly. And it's far past time to deliver.

Techflash via Gizmodo