Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) Software giant Microsoft Corp will focus on developing its product line and plans to release revamped operating system for mobile phones by the year-end, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Thursday.
“The focus is on everyday like what we should be doing to our product line, how do we make products more innovative… the Windows Phone 7 will be released by Christmas,” Ballmer told reporters here.

Windows Phone 7 is a revamped version of the Microsoft’s smartphone operating system. The company faces fierce competition from Apple’s iPhone and Google Android operating system in this category.

Apple Wednesday overtook Microsoft as the world’s most valuable technology company due to the persistent run-up in Apple shares and the dwindling value of Microsoft stock.

“We are in right areas and we are executing very well and that is going to lead to great products and great success… It is a long game, we have good competitors and we too are a very good competitor,” said Ballmer.

About opportunities in India, he said the country has potential to emerge as the global competency centre for cloud computing services.

“India will not only see a surge in consumption of cloud services; driving growth in domestic IT usage, but companies all over the world will look to India to support their transition to cloud computing,” he said.

According to global management consultant Zinnov, cloud services are estimated to create over three lakh jobs in India in the next five years.

Microsoft in March unveiled a portfolio of services in India that help companies share software and storage facilities, called cloud computing, that can bring down their total IT spend by as much as 50 percent.

According to the software firm, companies have reported anywhere between 16-49 percent reduction in their total spend on information technology and related services over a three-year period after migrating to cloud computing where they share computer resources — such as servers, software and data storage — through the Internet, instead of setting up such infrastructure at their own end.

In India, IT companies like NIIT, Cognizant and CDC software are betting big on Windows Azure, the Microsoft’s offering in the area of cloud computing.

NIIT Thursday said it will train one lakh students on Windows Azure over the next three years, while the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said it is building a large-scale application on it to study the basic resource allocation constructs and strategies required for addressing enterprise needs on the cloud.

Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure supports over one billion customers and 20 million businesses globally.