In one of his final appearances as Microsoft CEO. Steve Ballmer reiterated an appeal to the software company's investors in supporting his vision in making Microsoft as a unified devices and services powerhouse. He made these remarks in the annual meeting of Microsoft's investors and analysts.
He also said Microsoft has a bright future, despite a few missteps during his time at the helm of the company. In his typical high volume presentation, Ballmer said, "We have the tools. There's an economic upside here. In the long run, we are uniquely poised to seize the opportunity. Today, I'm speaking as an investor. You all own Microsoft stock, cheer for it, for God's sake."
Ballmer became CEO when co-founder Bill Gates stepped down back in 2000. He announced last August that he would be stepping down as CEO in the next 12 months. He acknowledged in his speech that under his watch, the company became too focused with Windows to realize that Apple Inc's iPhone was taking the computing world by storm.
Ballmer said, "If there's one thing I regret, 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 form factor called the phone."
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