"I think there was really only one key decision we had made, which was to try to do almost too many new things all at one time. And frankly, that gave us more than we could digest. And as soon as we kind of reset that decision, which took us a couple years, everything has proceeded at pace since then. And I feel quite confident things will happen much more quickly in the future."
Ballmer predicts Vista will be adopted more quickly than Windows XP was. Microsoft plans to spend more marketing it. Ballmer also says the new Zune music and video player is just the start in that category. He says Zune is in what he calls rapid innovation mode. Microsoft is chasing Apple in the digital music business. But is Ballmer worried about Apple gaining ground in the PC arena?
"Apple's an interesting company…always has some clever ideas. We have a lot of respect for Apple. We challenge ourselves with the innovations that come from Apple. Apple is still not a very significant factor in the PC business and that doesn't seem to be changing."
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.