2014 is full of opportunities and challenges for Microsoft

December 24 news, according to foreign media reports, this year is a transitional year for Microsoft, and next year will be full of opportunities and challenges for it.

A new perspective

August Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that he will resign within 12 months. Immediately after the news was announced, it caused a global sensation, not only because Microsoft was one of the world's largest technology companies, but also because Ballmer was one of the only two CEOs in the history of Microsoft.

John Thompson, a member of Microsoft’s board of directors, said this month that the company will soon find a new CEO, but the company will not issue a final decision until early 2014.

Ballmer's resignation not only brought a new decision-maker to Microsoft, but also provided the company with a new perspective on how to deal with the issue. Ballmer said a month ago that he will leave the company and that he has restructured the company's department so that the company can better compete with other technology companies. This move is the first step in advancing Microsoft's new era of "equipment and service" and has positive significance. However, with the acquisition of Nokia's equipment and services transactions by Microsoft, the new CEO will likely move further with Microsoft in 2014.

Necessary acquisition

Microsoft is expected to officially reach $7.2 billion in the acquisition of Nokia devices and services in early 2014. This is another step taken by the company to compete directly with Apple, Samsung, Google and other companies in the field of mobile device hardware and software.

In an interview with ZDNet this month, Ballmer said that Microsoft needs to “enhance and improve, which is also one of the purposes for the acquisition of Nokia mobile phones and services.”

In order to better compete with strong rivals next year, Microsoft will need to successfully integrate Nokia's equipment and services and approximately 32,000 employees into the overall development strategy. The measures taken by Microsoft to go further in the production and sale of self-developed equipment may continue to irritate original equipment manufacturers and former partners, but this will be the main theme of Microsoft in 2014.

The reason is that - at the end of October, Apple scored 40.6% of the US smart phone market share, ranking first in the original equipment manufacturers, Samsung ranked second with 25.4% of market share, and Google's Motorola with 6.9. % took third.

In the US smart phone operating system market, Android system has 52.2% market share, iOS has 40.6%, and Windows Phone ranks fourth with 3.2% market share.

To be fair, Windows Phone performed quite well in some international markets. At the end of October, it had a market share of 11.9% in the UK market and 12.5% ​​in the French market. From this perspective, after the next year, Microsoft will need to focus on the most profitable smartphone market in the United States.

In addition to smart phones and smart phone systems, Microsoft's tablet PC in 2014 is also worth watching. In 2013, Surface Pro and Surface RT did not break any sales records. This summer, Microsoft also had a backlog of $900 million Surface RT tablets that were not sold. With the release of Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 in September, Microsoft has made improvements to the tablet PCs, making them more attractive to consumers. Recently, Microsoft also acknowledged that the Windows RT branding strategy is confusing for users and that the company may consider leaving the operating system aside next year.

Although the past year is not easy, Microsoft believes there will be more changes and growth possibilities in 2014. In the face of the upcoming new CEO and more equipment and services, Microsoft may be able to use this opportunity to make 2014 a complete year for the company.

The author of this article is Chris Neger, an investment website executive at The Motley Fool.