As for workplace cloud applications, Ballmer said Microsoft is "all in, baby," competing head-to-head against Google in the segment for communications and productivity suites, where Microsoft's Office 365 goes up against Google Apps and is "winning, winning, winning."

This market for communications and productivity applications is the most mature in terms of adoption by businesses, while other areas aren't at that level yet, such as cloud-based platforms and line-of-business software, he said.

Ballmer said Microsoft continues to work hand-in-hand with hardware manufacturers to make sure that Windows is present and optimized for a broad variety of devices, including desktop and laptop PCs, smartphones, tablets and others.