Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is focusing the company's strategy on mixed reality.
In a live interview with Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerard Baker, Satya Nadella said that they need "to be able to add real value and be on the hunt for the next big category."
According to Engadget, Nadella said the mixed reality world is the ultimate computer for him. "Your field of view becomes an infinite display," he said.
Nadella also envisions that the augmented reality technology could be used for home improvement. "Imagine if you could see what your home improvement project would look like and then press order," he said.
Aside from augmented reality, the company is also looking into virtual reality. A few months ago, Microsoft stated that they are opening up Windows Holographic, so that the third-party makers could get in, potentially creating virtual reality headsets.
The current effort that Microsoft is putting into augmented reality could be compared to their attempt a few years ago with the Surface device, a combination tablet-notebook computer. He said people asked before "what's a 2-in-1", but now it's a growing category.
Nadella adds that their goal is to invent new computers and new computing, whether it be HoloLens, in mixed reality or Surface. This also includes artificial intelligence.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Nadella is also making investments in artificial intelligence. Last month, the company moved to concentrate its artificial-intelligence operation into one group.
This new focus followed more than a decade of stagnation when then-CEO Steve Ballmer focused on emerging technologies, including mobile computing and web search. The strategic path that Microsoft took trailed rivals such as Apple, Inc. and Alphabet, Inc.
When Nadella took over as CEO in 2014, he pulled back Ballmer's bet on mobile phones and moved aggressively into cloud computing.
