Ballmer: Microsoft must 'chart a direction in mobile devices'

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer takes current CEO Satya Nadella to task over the company's lack of direction in mobile in an interview with Business Insider. While Nadella has done a "brilliant" job of focusing on mobile and the cloud, "if you're going to be mobile-first, cloud first you really do need to have a sense of what you're doing in mobile devices," Ballmer said. "I had put the company on a path by buying Nokia…. Satya, he's certainly changed that. He needs to have a clear path forward. But I'm sure he'll get there."

There's little evidence that the "path" Microsoft was on following the Nokia acquisition was leading anywhere positive, of course, and the company's mobile phone efforts continue to founder. Microsoft still has enormous reach on the desktop, and it is reportedly working on a Surface phone in an effort to extend the modest success of its line of Surface tablets. But whether Nadella can help the company "chart a direction in mobile devices," as Ballmer says it must do, is not at all certain. Article