“Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer did not get his maximum bonus for the last fiscal year, despite notching the company’s highest ever sales, as he took a hit for missteps on phones and not moving fast enough to counter Apple Inc’s iPad,” Bill Rigby reports for Reuters.
MacDailyNews Take: Come on, how could Ballmer move Microsoft until Apple told him, “No, dummy, like this.” Seriously, with iPad, he only just saw what to do in January; it takes some time to analyze what Apple’s done, fail to properly understand it, design upside-down and backwards knockoffs with your captives… uh, partners, and then devise marketing schemes that attempt to part the morbidly gullible from their money. Give him a reasonable amount of time is all we ask.
Rigby continues, “Ballmer, 54, received a cash bonus of $670,000 for the fiscal year ended June 30, equal to his salary, but only half of the maximum bonus payout, according to a filing with securities regulators on Thursday. A discussion of Ballmer’s pay in the company’s annual proxy filing also referred to the ‘unsuccessful launch of the Kin phone, loss of market share in the company’s mobile phone business, and the need for the company to pursue innovations to take advantage of new form factors.'”
“Microsoft’s Kin — a feature phone aimed at teenagers — flopped this year and was dropped less than three months after launch with poor sales,” Rigby reports. “Its Windows mobile phone software has been losing share sharply over the last few years to Apple’s iPhone, Google Inc’s Android and Research in Motion Ltd’s BlackBerry.”
MacDailyNews Take: Anyone could see that Kin would be a failure. Anyone. (Anyone not named Rob Enderle or Paul Thurrott, of course.) That Ballmer couldn’t see it means that he should be… uh, Microsoft CEO for as long as it takes! Yeah, that’s the ticket
Rigby reports, “The company has also been in the spotlight for the lack of a quick response to Apple’s iPad — a revolution in what the industry calls “form factor” — which has sold more than 3 million since launching earlier this year. Ballmer said in July that slates and tablets running Windows would appear as soon as they are ready.”
MacDailyNews Take: More like as soon as Microsoft can throw together yet another half-asssed copy of Apple innovation. Thankfully, the public is much more tech savvy now than they were in 1995.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Rigby’s first nine words plus “it” will someday sum up Ballmer’s entire tenure as Microsoft CEO.
Actually kids, this might be the news we’ve been waiting for.
Imagine Microsoft as a contributing and useful part of the computer community. It could happen! If the MS board is getting the clue that dingbats like Ballmer and other MS Marketing Morons deserve a cut in pay, and maybe even THE BOOT, then perhaps Microsoft has just started on the right path to a positive future.
Imagine a Microsoft we can all admire. Something new!
@Derek Currie
That’s a very optimistic viewpoint. I would be more inclined to believe it if Ballmer had received no bonus at all. Instead, he received a $670,000 bonus on top of his $670,000 salary. The bonus alone represents about 13 years of salary at a level of ~$50,000 per year (roughly the family average in the U.S., I believe). Combined with his base salary, he earned more in one year than most families in a quarter century or more. Has he added value to M$?
@Derek Currie
That’s a very optimistic viewpoint. I would be more inclined to believe it if Ballmer had received no bonus at all. Instead, he received a $670,000 bonus on top of his $670,000 salary. The bonus alone represents about 13 years of salary at a level of ~$50,000 per year (roughly the family average in the U.S., I believe). Combined with his base salary, he earned more in one year than most families in a quarter century or more. Has he added value to M$?
Balmer Sinks Ship !
So let me get this straight: Steve Balmer who promised the previous mobile phone incarnation KiN, and previous promises of fabulous Microsoft-based tablet PCs with partners such as HP, is now promising an entirely NEW tablet design “ready for the holiday (2010) season” …??? Well – let’s just see about that. Balmer’s balsy comments should be held accountable by Microsoft’s shareholders and ridiculed by the tech and computing community if no such product(s) come to fruition. This guy is a classic snake oil salesman – what a loud mouthed goof. If only Bill Gates minimized his time jumping on planes and traveling the world in support of his charities, maybe he would have a chance to realize that the castle he built is being thrown into disarray. What a joke.
Balmer Sinks Ship !
So let me get this straight: Steve Balmer who promised the previous mobile phone incarnation KiN, and previous promises of fabulous Microsoft-based tablet PCs with partners such as HP, is now promising an entirely NEW tablet design “ready for the holiday (2010) season” …??? Well – let’s just see about that. Balmer’s balsy comments should be held accountable by Microsoft’s shareholders and ridiculed by the tech and computing community if no such product(s) come to fruition. This guy is a classic snake oil salesman – what a loud mouthed goof. If only Bill Gates minimized his time jumping on planes and traveling the world in support of his charities, maybe he would have a chance to realize that the castle he built is being thrown into disarray. What a joke.