Microsoft CEO: We Missed the Boat on Smartphones

Trying to catch up

Steve Ballmer, the outgoing chief executive of Microsoft, has acknowledged that under his leadership the company became too focused on Windows computers and missed the boat on smartphones.

Mr Ballmer said Microsoft had almost "no share" in the smartphone market as a result of the decision.

"I regret that there was a period in the early 2000s when we were so focused on what we had to do around Windows that we weren't able to redeploy talent to the new device called the phone," he told analysts at a meeting in Washington.