Why Steve Ballmer ‘drifted apart’ from Bill Gates
NEW YORK: Differences over the smartphone and tablet business strained his relationship with Bill Gates, Microsoft’s former CEO Steve Ballmer recounted in an interview to Bloomberg this week. If he could do it all again, Ballmer said he would have entered the mobile device market even earlier. When he finally did, Microsoft co-founder Gates and other members of the board disagreed, he said. Ballmer, now owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, revealed that “there was a fundamental disagreement” about his decision to push Microsoft into the hardware business and that he “drifted apart” from Gates partly due to a disagreement over whether Microsoft should make its own handsets and tablets. “I had pushed Surface. The board had been a little -little reluctant in supporting it. And then things came to a climax around what to do about the phone business,” he said noting that it was a mistake to get into handsets and tablets too late. Microsoft entered the market in 2012 with the Surface RT, a tablet that sold poorly and required Microsoft to take a $900 million charge to write down the value of inventory. Now, the rejigged Surface business is profitable and generated more than $4 billion in sales for the most recent year, Bloomberg reported. “I would have moved into the hardware business faster,” he said. Responding to the f amous quote where he said iPhones would never sell because it cost too much, Ballmer said,” You know, people like to point to this quote where I said iPhones will never sell, because the price at $600 or $700 was too high. And there was business model innovation by Apple to get it essentially built into the monthly cell phone bill.” Most startup entrepreneurs, experts and startup lawyers have given a thumbs-up to the Startup India Campaign initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They believe that the business environment in India is conducive and favourable for starting a business, but many also say that much more needs to done.
“Compared to the previous regime, the ease of doing business has improved significantly and senior bureaucrats are also giving a lot of importance to startups, which is a positive step. The process has become much more streamlined than what it was earlier. However, it is just a first step and much more needs to be done on this front,” Pankaj Jain, principal of Impact Law Ventures and a senior advocate providing consultation to startups, told The Sunday Guardian.
Akshay Gunteti, a designing and entrepreneur based in Bengaluru, who recently set up an online portal for startups, also believes that the ease of doing business has improved after the launch of the Startup India campaign, as several compliances and requirements to set up a business have been streamlined, making the process friendly and easier.
Nishant Gupta, co-founder of Med Harbour, an online medical consultation startup, is of the opinion that the bureaucratic culture needs to improve at a much faster pace to actually make the Startup India campaign a bigger success. Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Nishant said, “People are still little hesitant to actually turn their idea into a reality because the government departments are not very friendly and without proper knowledge, the department people do not give you honest advice. They make you keep coming you to them multiple times, making the process cumbersome.”
Nishant, however, also believes that the motivation that “this government provided us to startup business here like never before and this is a positive step towards a larger goal and this campaign has motivated us to start business, giving us the confidence in all of us”. Startup lawyers and entrepreneurs have said that the setting up of companies have become much more easier and streamlined than what it was earlier, with the government making most of the process digital and less cumbersome. The government is also positive in taking feedbacks from stakeholders and incorporating positive changes into its functionaries from time to time.
Aditya Shamlal, a senior advocate specialising in the startup industry, told The Sunday Guardian, “The Ministry of Corporate affairs and the government is incorporating innovative and simpler ways for facilitating setting up business in India. Most of the processes, which were earlier in physical form, to set up a company, have been digitalised. The Ministry has also given direction towards increasing the speed of incorporation. Earlier, one had to have a minimum of Rs one lakh paid up capital to set up a company, which is not anymore the case. All these small little things contribute to making things easier for business.”
Aditya, however, added that the Startup India Campaign is still at a nascent stage and much more needs to be done to make it more effective and smooth. “After the setting up of companies, a lot of internal filings and other legal compliances are still paperwork oriented which if digitalised would make the process easier and less cumbersome.”
Experts said that setting up an online or E-commerce business is much easier than a physical business here in India, as physical business setups require several clearances and certificates from several departments at the level of both state and Central governments.
Abdullah Talib, an entrepreneur and co-founder of Hotel Silk City in Varanasi, said that setting up a business in the hotel, food and beverage sectors is very difficult, tiring and cumbersome as 15-20 licences and clearances from several departments are required at different stages. “The several rounds that one needs to go through in the government offices for certificates and clearances is very tiring. There is no single window clearance system in place yet. If that was the case, things would have been much easier.”
The Government of India, which started the Startup India hub on April 1, 2016 to facilitate startup companies and resolve queries, has been able to resolve 21,436 queries received from startups through telephone, email and Twitter, according to the Startup India status report released on 18 October this year. The report further said that out of 1,144 applications received, only 385 had the required documents and have been recognised as startups by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). But according to the report, only 82 applications out of the total applications can be considered for tax benefits as only these startups have been incorporated after April 1, 2016 and only five startups have been approved for availing tax benefits.
A lawyer and co-founder of a startup law firm, who did not wish to be named, said, “The environment is conducive towards startup business, but the figures do not show that. The government had promised tax holidays, single window clearances, but none of these seem to be a reality on the ground. The government needs to do much more.