Steve Ballmer's CES 2010 Keynote

Rapid Growth and a Teaser for Xbox

Ballmer rightly points out that we’ve come a long way in the last 30 years, to the point where our everyday lives would seem like science fiction to someone from the 1980s – touch-screen devices, GPS, Facebook and… Oh dear, someone get the funny pills. Apparently ‘We Bing! We Bing, and we Bing… Bing, Bing, Bing!’ It’s almost as if he can’t help himself. Oh well, a brief bit of madness delivered with a good-natured smile has at least lifted the mood in the room – there a few whoops at the back from some people who no doubt think they’ve got the next YouTube hit in the bag now.

Ballmer’s next point is more sober – with the reach of technology into almost everything we do, he says we have a responsibility to use it for the benefit of mankind and the planet. ‘At Microsoft, we’re providing people with the tools they need to ensure their homes are energy efficient; we’re sharing software that we’ve done that’s helping AIDS researchers deliver vaccines more quickly; and we’re empowering people to make better decisions about their own healthcare.’ Ballmer sees this as just the beginning, of how technology is reaching more and more people around the world.


Ballmer sees the global middle-class as Microsoft’s main target customer, and says this class will grow from 1 billion people now to over 4 billion in the next several decades. Essentially, more of the world will develop and become more affluent, and have disposable income and leisure time, and Ballmer sees this happening at a fairly rapid rate. These people will be technology consumers. Ballmer sees this as a key factor to why he, Microsoft and the tech industry can be bullish about his and its long-term future.

Last year was a big year for Microsoft, so Ballmer now takes a look at the year that was. Ballmer sees the Xbox as being a success, as it has ‘redefined living room entertainment since its launch ten years ago’ Ballmer talks the range of top games released for the console last year and how services such Facebook, Twitter and LastFM were added to Xbox Live last year.

And Microsoft also announced Project Natal (which Ballmer pronounces ‘nuh-taal’ and I’d always called ‘nay-tahl’ – I guess he’d know though, so now I’ll have to train myself to speak proper like what he does). Pronunciation issues aside, and despite Natal being a significant upgrade which again shows the Xbox to be a strong player in the console war, I don’t think mere announcements should be allowed to be included in a list of ‘big things we did last year.'

Here’s the teaser for Xbox owners – Ballmer says that 2010 is going to be a vintage year, with ‘blockbuster games launching virtually every month, and other surprises in store’. Start the rumour mill, it’s going to be a busy year!