Microsoft has not given up on phones: COO Kevin Turner

ORLANDO: Making it clear that Microsoft is not giving up on phones, company COO Kevin Turner has asserted that the technology giant is restructuring its phones business for profitable growth and will focus on only a few devices that will grab market share.

Turner, addressing over 14,000 partners, resellers and vendors at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2015 here, said people have been asking what the company is doing about its phone business, particularly in the wake of last week's announcement that Microsoft would be cutting 7,800 jobs and write down $7.6 billion, all related to its Nokia business.

"Here it is: The reality is, we care about phones. We are still in phones. We are restructuring that business for profitable growth so that it can be sustainable," Turner said in his vision keynote address yesterday.

He clarified that the company will not dish out a lot of devices but focus on only a few that have the potential to capture market share and address consumer needs.

"We are in it, we are not going to have a lot of devices. We're going to build a profitable portfolio, we're focused on a few killer devices that grab share and that enable to help us showcase our uniqueness and solutions. We are actually restructuring to grow, but grow profitably. That's the ins and outs of what's the deal with phones," the company's COO said.

Outlining the company's plan for the phone business going forward, Turner said Microsoft is changing its manufacturing processes, "modernizing those and making them contemporary, we're changing some of our go-to-markets, and using multi-tiered distribution."

"We are right sizing the organization, and we are hard at work at what's the next big wave of innovation relative to that size of device that we need to be working on and geared towards," he said.

"So make no mistake we're not giving up on phones, we're resetting for profitable growth, and we will continue to innovate in that space, and it remains a very important part of the portfolio," he added.

Turner's remarks come just a week after the Redmond-based company's India-born CEO Satya Nadella announced plans to restructure the phone business to better focus and align resources.

The restructuring included elimination of up to 7,800 positions, primarily in the phone business, resulting in a write down of about $7.6-billion related to its Nokia phone business.

In addition it will also bear a restructuring charge of approximately $750 million to $850 million,