CEO Steve Ballmer clearly sees big opportunities for the software giant.

But then there’s Apple and Google and Symbian and others with big plans for the mobile software market.

That seems like it would have some pretty broad implications for Microsoft.

You talked at CTIA about Apple not being an enterprise company and IBM not being a consumer company.

Some might say it’s hard to do both.

It’s simpler if I can learn one thing.

I actually think that’s a feature, an advantage.

Certainly you see that in the PC.

We’re putting more and more emphasis on the kind of entertainment-style applications.

We’ve got to have distribution (and) sales models that let consumers pick somehow what they want.

I think that’s a key part of it.

I’d expect us to have Windows Mobile in devices that have all four of those personalities.

Obviously, there’s a lot of talk around the iPhone.

And we note both of those.

That doesn’t mean it’s perfect.

But there is some stuff that they’ve done that’s quite nice.

What about full Web browsing?

On the professional side, of course, all the issues of corporate compliance and security etc.

Most phones today would have a consumer buying aspect to them.

As increasingly people want to use these in enterprise processes, IT comes into it.

Do you see a need for a full version of Windows running on smaller devices?

When you look at the mobile space, who do you see as your biggest competitor?

A few years ago, I know you would have said Nokia.

You could say that’s a tall order, but that’s what we get paid to do.

And I think we’ll continue to pick up share.

I mean, we launched Zune a year ago.

We’ve got new models at other price points.

I think we’ll continue to take share.

I think it’s a long-term deal.

We could have left it alone and let Apple have free run of the market.

We think we’ve got some innovative ideas and we’ll see whether the market agrees with us.

There’s music services that may run on dedicated players.

There’s music services and an entertainment service.

And I think that will be an important direction.

Was that a missed opportunity?

Wouldn’t you rather see more excitement around Vista?Ballmer: We have a lot of activity.

And certainly, Vista is very popular right now in the marketplace, particularly in the consumer side.

Are you pleased with where Vista is?

I mean, it’s ironic.

We have a lot of momentum on the consumer side.

But the machines that sell all run Windows Vista.

We have a lot of consumer interest and enthusiasm around it.

Microsoft recently announced a final settlement with the EU.

We’re in compliance.

The other thing we decided to do was not appeal to the European Court of Justice.

We’ve had our most important appellate opportunity.

We got a fairly clear signal back from the Court of First Instance.

I’m not going to sort of speculate what it might mean to others.

I think I understand what it means to us, and we’re moving forward.

Does Microsoft have any interest in the enterprise software consolidation that’s going on?

Oracle said they want to buy BEA Systems.

They’ve had a strategy of pretty much gobbling up lots of companies.

But, you know, we continue to do acquisitions.

Whether we’ll do a large acquisition, I’m not so sure.

You know, we’ve seen Business Objects and Hyperion and Siebel and some other things.

We’re quite happy with our position.

What do you make of Oracle’s growth strategy through acquisition?Ballmer: I’m not an expert.

If it works, power to them.

It’s tough, but sometimes big executions can make good sense.

We’ll have to see how they execute.