CBS This Morning carried an interview with Bill Gates which seems to have created a flurry of speculation about Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer. Asked if he was happy with Ballmer's performance, Gates listed Microsoft’s recent product launches "Windows 8 is key to the future, the Surface computer. Bing, people are seeing as a better search product, Xbox." When pressed "But is -- is it enough?" Gates said. "No, he and I are not satisfied that, in terms of breakthrough things, that we're doing everything possible." Gates admitted Microsoft didn't "get out in the lead very early" on cell phones. He said, "We didn't miss cell phones, but the way that we went about it didn't allow us to get the leadership. So it's clearly a mistake."
Here at TechMarketView we branded 2013 as a ‘Make or Break Year” for Microsoft in particular. Early indications are not that good for Windows 8. Sure, it is not a disaster. But neither is it the ‘breakthrough” that Microsoft clearly needs – whether that’s on mobile, on the Surface or as an upgrade PC OS. Back in the 1990s, Microsoft missed the internet but then quite quickly corrected itself. In the 2000s Microsoft clearly missed the move to mobile and off-premise computing. The problem is that they have still to correct that situation.
The difference is that Gates was still in charge back in the 1990s but Ballmer took over in Jan 2000. You could say that Microsoft has not had a ‘breakthrough’ product innovation since. Ballmer has seen off a whole range of possible contenders for the CEO role since. Microsoft’s share price has halved since Ballmer took the helm. Many will say that it is grossly unfair to compare share prices in the height of the dot.com madness. But Microsoft has flat-lined around the current $27 for over 10 years now.
Maybe Gates is finally signalling what many in the industry have been saying for a long while. Time for a change at the top.