The fact that Microsoft is likely to release fewer Nokia phones and Lumia models has no impact on Windows’ app offerings for smartphones, according to the tech giant. That says director Satya Nadella in a conversation with ZDNet on Tuesday.
ZDNet spoke with Nadella after his keynote address at the Worldwide Partner Conference. It was the first time the CEO came out after it came out this week that Microsoft is cutting nearly 8,000 jobs, many of which relate to the company’s telephone business. Microsoft said the focus will be on a more effective portfolio of phones.
Microsoft expert Mary-Jo Foley of ZDNet asked Nadella whether he fears that the app offering will suffer from the layoffs, now that Microsoft threatens to release fewer Windows devices. Thanks to the so-called ‘universal Windows platform’, the CEO is not afraid of this, he emphasizes. That platform allows applications to run on numerous Windows 10 compatible devices, including PCs and smartphones.
According to Nadella, the ‘conventional’ start menu in Windows 10 ensures that the Store will come into its own. “It’s not that I want to bring back the old, but it’s the best way to put the store together. Windows 8 was great, except no one discovered the store. Windows 10 offers the store in an exquisite way.”
In the interview with Foley, Nadella also discussed his holographic glasses, the HoloLens. Initially, it seemed that mainly scientists would use the glasses. NASA, among others, is working with Microsoft on a project. Nevertheless, Microsoft is not only aiming at researchers with the HoloLens, according to the CEO.
“Of course the first HoloLens release will be aimed at developers and businesses,” he says. “But with the first version, I want us to focus more on business applications.” According to him, this automatically ensures that consumers also have more to do with the glasses. According to him, examples are hospitals, other healthcare facilities and retailers.