NEW DELHI -- Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer Thursday said the technology giant is looking to work with Finnish mobile handset maker Nokia Corp. to develop "next-generation" mobile devices.
The Redmond, Wash.-based maker of business and personal software has recently struck an alliance with Nokia to produce Windows-based mobile phones as it seeks to reverse its declining share in the increasingly critical smartphone market.
"Certainly our partnership with Nokia is an important step forward with us...but the key there is not only to innovate on software, which we will work together over time, but also work on next-generation hardware innovations with them," Mr. Ballmer said while addressing a conference in New Delhi.
Analysts believe Nokia's manufacturing and distribution power could help turn the tide for Microsoft, with Gartner predicting that phones running Microsoft software could pass the market share of Apple Inc.'s phones in 2015.
Mr. Ballmer also said India will be a "priority market" for the company, given that Nokia is a market leader in mobile handsets in the world's fastest-growing telecommunications market and the second-largest market after China.
Microsoft has been facing challenges from handsets and tablet computers from rival Apple as well as other manufacturers using Google Inc.'s Android operating system. Mr. Ballmer expects Microsoft to sell more of its software on such devices.
"The race is on and we continue to push Windows to a variety of form factors," he added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ballmer expects cloud computing--which delivers software and services to users through the Internet for a fee--to drive growth for the information technology sector in coming years as it reduces the high cost of owning both computer software and hardware.
"This cloud computing phenomenon will drive growth...it will enable businesses to use IT more productively," Mr. Ballmer said.
About 300,000 new jobs are to be created in India over the next five years due to cloud computing, Mr. Ballmer said.
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