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Ballmer On Kin, Clouds, And Facebook

What did Microsoft learn from its failed Kin endeavor? The importance of a focused product vision, chief exec Steve Ballmer told The Seattle Times in a Q & A this week. "The No. 1 message from Kin is a message of focus," Ballmer said. "You only get so many things you can really talk about, communicate, work on with the consumer. You've got to be bold, you've got to look forward and you've got to stay focused. Kin was neither -- with 20-20 hindsight -- bold enough relative to where the market's going, and it just defocused activity from Windows Phone."

Meanwhile, Ballmer calls cloud computing "the biggest profit opportunity in front of us ... because we can deliver more value to our customers on the cloud instead of at premise, which means we have an opportunity to make more money." Ballmer also admits that he's on Facebook everyday, along with 11 or so other "Steve Ballmer" impersonators. "Not as many as there are Bill Gates," he says, "but there are a few Steve Ballmers."

Read the whole story at The Seattle Times »

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