OXFORD, England –- A month after stepping down as Microsoft’s chief executive, Steven A. Ballmer hasn’t lost any of his energy.
In front of a packed crowd at the University of Oxford, Mr. Ballmer hooted, hollered and jumped out of his seat in a question-and-answer session that was his first public appearance since handing the top job at Microsoft to Satya Nadella.
“If you want to start something, be all in,” Mr. Ballmer bellowed at the mixture of M.B.A. students, college professors and others on Tuesday afternoon. “You have to be hard core as anything if you want to be successful.”
Despite the theatrics, the former Microsoft chief offered a candid take on the company’s recent missteps, as the technology industry has shifted from software run on PCs to a focus on mobile devices and cloud computing.
“Microsoft is well capitalized. If we don’t succeed, it’s about catching the next wave of innovation,” Mr. Ballmer said.
Rivals like Google and Facebook have so far outmaneuvered Microsoft in new areas of technology, as people get access to content and software through the Internet and on connected devices like tablets.
Companies like Apple and Samsung also now dominate the smartphone industry. In contrast, Microsoft’s own efforts through its Windows Phone operating system have failed to garner much attention from consumers worldwide.
Microsoft is weeks away from completing its $7.2 billion takeover of the handset unit of the Finnish company Nokia, though analysts remain skeptical about whether the deal will jump-start the United States tech giant’s lagging position in the smartphone industry.
Like its archrival Apple, which controls both its software and hardware production, Microsoft is hoping that it can profit from combining its software services, like email and cloud computing, with Nokia’s track record of building handsets.
“In the last 10 years, there are things that didn’t go so well,” Mr. Ballmer said. “We would have had a strong position in the phone market. The thing I regret is that we didn’t put hardware and software together quicker.”
The former Microsoft chief gave grudging praise to Apple, saying that it “has had a good run lately.” Mr. Ballmer also offered faint praise to Facebook on its recent acquisition of WhatsApp for up to $19 billion. “Is it a fad? Probably not,” he said, referring to Internet messaging services.
During the hour-long discussion, Mr. Ballmer hinted about what he might do next after spending more than 30 years at Microsoft.
When asked by an audience member what was the best thing about being immensely wealthy and powerful, he chuckled before saying: “I can play any golf course that I want.”
Mr. Ballmer then added: “I get a new set of things to be passionate about. I get the chance of trying to find out what may be fun to make a difference in the world.”