In a speech to to students at Oxford Business School, U.K., Steve Ballmer reveals the major difference between in philosophy between his company and Apple.
Mr. Ballmer said that for him, the long-term goal would be to make more money for shareholders than they expect.
Steve Ballmer also admitted that Microsoft missed the mobile revolution.
“We would have a stronger position in the phone market today if I could re-do the last 10 years,” he said. The answer, he said, is to pick up and try to catch the next wave.
On the other hand, Apple CEO Tim Cook is explicit that his goal is to make the best products:
I don’t view that as being satisfied with being small or however you want to define it. I just want to say that the macro thing for us is making a great product and we must do that. If we can’t do that, we’re not going to force ourselves to hit a price point that makes us produce a product that we’re not proud of because we lose who we are in that. We’re not going to do that.