October 12, 2009 by Matt Thomas
Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer has put an end to persistent rumours that the world’s premier software manufacturer is looking to move into the burgeoning ebook reader market. Speaking at an event in the Netherlands, Ballmer informed a room full of journalists in no uncertain terms that Microsoft had no interest in doing so. The Microsoft head stated that the company already had ‘A device for reading. It’s the most popular device in the world. It’s the PC’
Ballmer did state, however, that he was looking forward to further collaboration with Amazon and their ilk in order to bring more ebooks to the PC itself, and made the point that Microsoft already offers free downloadable ebook reading software, Microsoft reader. However, it doesn’t exactly take a cynic to point out that the audience of people looking to read books on PC screens is going to be fairly small.
Ebooks are thought by many to be the breakout consumer technology over the next few years and some are already criticising Microsoft for missing yet another opportunity early on. Only time will tell, though Microsoft arguably has form in this department…
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