Warc, 7 May 2014
SINGAPORE: While recognising that Microsoft is not the
market leader for mobile devices, the technology firm's Asia-Pacific president
has expressed confidence that it will make progress in the region with its mobility
and cloud computing services.
César Cernuda told the Wall Street Journal that "the
gravity of the world is shifting to Asia" and Microsoft is encouraged that
adoption of cloud computing – the storage of data and programs on the internet
– is "going really fast".
With Asia's growing middle-class making up a significant
proportion of the region's already large population, Cernuda expected the
company to benefit from the demographic trend as mobility and the internet,
including cloud, come together.
"We have a strategy as a company, and it's very simple:
mobility first, cloud first. There's no reason why it should be different in
this region," he said, adding that the diversity of the region made a
one-size-fits-all approach unsuitable.
He said Microsoft is pleased with the progress made by its
new Office 365 software, which students can access for free, and wants to
ensure people can use its cloud services no matter which platform they use.
Nonetheless, for all the focus on new offerings, Microsoft
remained "very committed" about continuing its heavy investment in
its Windows software, he said.
As Microsoft seeks to take away some of the market share for
mobile devices from Apple and the Android platforms, Cernuda conceded that the
company faced a potential obstacle because of its image.
When asked whether some consumers regard its products as
"uncool", he accepted that Microsoft needed to do a "better
job" of getting its message across to highlight that products like Skype,
Xbox and Kinect are divisions of the company.
"Are people aware that Skype is Microsoft?" he
asked. "Or that we have 400m users using Outlook.com […] I think we need
to do a better job of telling our story."
Data sourced from Wall Street Journal; additional content by
Warc staff
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