Steve Ballmer Leaving Microsoft

By Alex Angove

Last updated 26 August 2013

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has announced his retirement from the company that has been his home for over 30 years.

Ballmer, who has been with Microsoft (MSFT) since 1980 when he joined as the company’s 30^th employee, made the announcement on Friday, prompting the creation of a committee whose purpose is to find a suitable replacement.

So far the timing of his departure is a little vague, said to be sometime within the next 12 months.

Not a real shock

Ballmer leaving Microsoft isn’t too much of a surprise. In the last fifteen years, MSFT has been overtaken in areas where it was once a real contender, such as device innovation and OS proliferation. Ballmer has also been criticized for missing important opportunities, often playing a game of catch-up when innovation slipped him by.

Such failures include Windows Vista, a complete lack of competition in social media, the Zune music player, the Zune music service, Windows 8, a devastatingly late entry in to the mobile market with Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 and, most recently, the Microsoft Surface debacle.

Thanks to the current market’s trend away from desktops and towards mobile devices any inability to keep up in the device market is not an option for a company like Microsoft whose main revenue has been from desktop PCs and the Windows operating system.

Another potential strike could be the upcoming Xbox One release, that has so far sparked controversy amongst gamers, forcing Microsoft to backpedal multiple times on many of its restrictive features. Poor Xbox One sales would be a particularly strong blow, as the console market somewhere that Microsoft has continued to be dominant, despite losing traction in other areas.

Interesting times

It’s possible that Microsoft’s apparent trend of staying just behind the pack in many key areas is thanks to a lack of innovation coming from the top. Where Amazon and Google continue to surge ahead, led by their imaginative founders, Microsoft has lost serious momentum since the departure of Bill Gates. Something similar could be said too of Apple that has become increasingly accused of maintaining status quo since Steve Jobs was forced to retire by the illness that eventually claimed his life. But where Apple already has the market lead, customer base and product name, Microsoft has an increasingly outdated product aimed at a disappearing market.

Steve Ballmer could be said to be enthusiastic, business-minded and harboring a love for Microsoft unparalleled by any of its employees, but he has rarely been accused of thinking outside of the box.

A new and innovative leader may be just what Microsoft needs to get the ball rolling again.