Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella wants to build the 'the ultimate mobile device'

Many Microsoft execs have been spoken of building new category of devices lately. This, of course, includes Satya Nadella. In a recent interview, Nadella acknowledged the fact that Microsoft missed the “mobile boom”. In another recent interview with Australia’s Financial Review, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella stated the company will “continue to be in the phone market” with unique features and the “most ultimate mobile device”. Nadella’s likely suggesting that the firm wants to build products like the Surface Pro and Surface Studio which bring new elements to the market rather than just being yet another “me-too” product. Here’s the statement:

“We don’t want to be driven by just envy of what others have, the question is, what can we bring? That’s where I look at any device form factor or any technology, even AI. We will continue to be in the phone market not as defined by today’s market leaders, but by what it is that we can uniquely do in what is the most ultimate mobile device,”

He also added that Microsoft stopped investing in projects that were “me-too” and started focusing on projects that were focused on a niche market with products (e.g. the Surface Studio) that can be differentiated:

“Therefore [with Nokia assets], we stopped doing things that were me-too and started doing things, even if they are today very sub-scale, to be very focused on a specific set of customers who need a specific set of capabilities that are differentiated and that we can do a good job of.”

This isn’t anything surprising to see, Microsoft already rebooted its mobile platform a couple of times but it never really succeeded in breaking in into the mobile market. The company likely wants to do what it did a few years ago with the Surface Pro devices — bringing something unique to the market that can be differentiated, and something the company can “do a good job of” — even if it’s a niche market.

What Microsoft plans to do isn’t yet known, of course. We recently reported that the company is looking into bringing x86 emulation for ARM64 based devices to Windows 10 with Redstone 3, which will bring a lot of power to Windows 10 Mobile’s Continuum feature. We’re also told by our sources that the company is internally investing on another project which might be related to Microsoft’s plans for the “ultimate” mobile device to the smartphone market, but details are pretty scarce at the moment.