Microsoft CEO sees company becoming more like Apple

Darn - they were on a good road - no need to become like apple...

Not quite sure about that. They've been on a downward spiral since Ballmer took over from Gates. The times of licensing software a la Microsoft is over with cloud computing taking off. People don't really need to buy the software and a few servers to run it on, they can just subscribe to a SaaS-type of provider. On the other hand on the mobile computing side, Amazon and Google are already providing their own hardware platforms so it was natural that Microsoft would follow suit, especially considering they have the required experience with xBox...

massively successful iPhone and iPad....made Windows devices feel clunky in comparison.

Wow bad journalism, or what? Iphone and iPad aren't comparable to "Windows devices," which 98 percent of the time are desktop computers and laptops, not on phones and tablets. The Apple competitor in those fields is Android, not Windows. Duh!

BTW, when PC netbooks came out, Apple laptops were by far bigger and heavier, and yes "clunkier." Also, Android has pioneered the compact 7 inch tablet, again much less "clunkier" than the bigger and heavier Apple product. And the iPhone is also a big and heavy object, compared to most of its smartphone competitors.

They've got a point though. I have one of those pre-IOS/Android windows for mobile-based smartphones that look like a Blackberry. It was just desktop Windows transposed to mini-me devices and the user experience was nowhere close to what you have on iPhone with their gesture-based + touchscreen system. All of a sudden it became pleasant to use maps on my phone - which I heard is not the case anymore with iOS6 :-)

Microsoft's computer philosophy has been "one size fits all." Now devices are becoming more specialized but still interconnected.

The only similarity between Ballmer and Steve Jobs is their first name.

Ballmer seems hell bent on driving Microsoft into total oblivion.

Strange that a person who had dissed Apple at every turn now wants to ape it.

Ape being the operative word in his case.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

This is what happens when your business moto is a copy of a copy of a copy.

Microsoft can start by taking over Nokia now

//taking a page from long-time rival Apple Inc

If that includes them ditching their own OS for Linux, like Apple, it gets my vote.

The new approach mimics Apple Inc, whose massively successful iPhone and iPad demonstrated tight integration of high-quality software and hardware and made Windows devices feel clunky in comparison.

We know a Apple fanboy wrote this garbage. Practically every site has label iOS 5 and 6 as behind the times and bland at best, unresponsive and just plain last decade in others. Windows Phone 7 on the other hand had great reviews, especially in the innovative UI.

Not to mention even Siri said the Nokia Lumia was the best smartphone, and the Lumia 920 is considered one of the best phones ever made before even being released! Camera's so sharp at night that any blurring you see in reviews is because the reviewer's camera is out of focus. Basically Microsoft is saying they want to buy out Nokia and have them make more awesome phones and tablets.

People who play video games may own an Xbox. Microsoft should have not written off the Zune. What would be more profitable is Window Media Player. Turn that into an iTune.

Again, Microsoft is getting "inspirations" from Apple? Well, this show who is doing the best thing.