For the non-MIcrosofters amongst you, that headline will need a bit of explanation. For the Microsofters, it probably will too, but for different reasons.
The first explanation: KT is Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer. He’s a powerful presence of an American senior executive.
Now onto the second…
Over the past few weeks I’ve been coming to the conclusion that there is a trinity of parts to a successful consumer technology offering today: the two bits that Steve Ballmer’s MIcrosoft strategy is aligned to, namely devices (PCs, hybrids, tablets, phones, TV boxes and so on) and services (software provided on subscription or value-exchange predominantly via the internet); and then the bit that Microsoft maybe is a little weaker in – retail fulfilment.
Now that’s not the same as a software service: EBay is a software service, it’s not retail fulfilment. Amazon do both (and provides devices and some services to boot). Tesco enter the fray in the UK with a device (the Hudl). Something like a half of Apple’s 60,000 employees work in Apple stores. Even Argos (bless them) have entered into the devices world (although theirs, by all reports, is rubbish).
So if you work with that trio assumption, then why do I mention KT? Well, because prior to Microsoft he spent two decades working for WalMart. What better experience to be able to build up a significant retailing operation alongside the tech?
mmitII 