Two months before he said he would relinquish his job, Mr Ballmer unveiled a reorganisation of the giant firm’s business structures, accounting and management, declaring that Microsoft would henceforth be a “devices and services” company. Since then much of the talk about Microsoft—apart from gossip about who might succeed Mr Ballmer—has been about devices. Microsoft is buying Nokia’s ailing mobile-phone business, which is by far the biggest maker of smartphones that use Microsoft’s mobile operating system. The firm’s Surface tablet, despite encouraging results last quarter, has not sold well. Its Xbox entertainment console, however, has gone like hot cakes.
