Microsoft ready to "conquer" the Internet

Steve Ballmer told German business weekly "manager magazin" that Microsoft "will conquer the Internet in the coming years." Over the next twelve months, Microsoft plans to introduce "more products than ever before in such a short time frame" and "evaluates" possible "large and small" acquisitions to complement the firm’s portfolio. He declined to comment on recent reports, which stated that Microsoft was talking to AOL about a possible alliance between the two firms.

According to Ballmer, Microsoft already is the world’s third largest Internet company. Revenues are already exceeding $2 billion Dollars in its Internet business unit and he expects the overall growth of revenues to accelerate in 2006. While Microsoft’s sales are climbing in a single-digit territory during this year, Ballmer believes that growth will reach a double-digit range next year.

During the interview, which will be published in the magazine’s print issue this Friday, Ballmer did not consider the recently announced Google-Sun partnership as a threat to Microsoft. "Users continue to pay for our office software, because it is superior to their products," he said.