From:    Published:2014/3/28 12:00:44

Satya Nadella, Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT -1.08% new chief executive, Thursday began to sketch a vision of the company's future that stressed online software for work, home and elsewhere—rather than a computing world with Windows at the center.

In a roughly 40-minute session with journalists in San Francisco, Mr. Nadella said Microsoft was uniquely positioned to usher in "the magical coming together of the cloud and mobile" for the roughly 1.5 billion smartphones, computers and tablets sold each year. His reference was to software applications hosted on remote computers, rather than a user's own device.

Mr. Nadella underscored Microsoft's central position as a computing base for all those devices. As evidence of Mr. Nadella's challenge, market researcher Gartner Inc.IT -1.79% Thursday said less than 15% of those devices will be powered by Microsoft's flagship Windows operating system.

The new CEO said Microsoft is one of the few companies that caters to individual users, developers who tie their applications into Microsoft software, and the technology workers inside of corporations.

"We think about users, both individuals and organizations, spanning across all devices," Mr. Nadella said. "That's one aspect you'll see us stress a lot."

To illustrate his strategy, Mr. Nadella introduced a version of Microsoft's popular Office software for Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet. Microsoft has been developing the software for years, and Mr. Nadella's predecessor,Steve Ballmer, previously had said it would be released eventually. Microsoft has offered a version of Office for the iPhone since June.

Still, the decision to launch the iPad version now—at Mr. Nadella's first public appearance as CEO and before Microsoft refashions Office for Windows-powered touchscreen devices—is symbolic of his move away from a Windows-first strategy.

"He deserves to get credit for making the strategic decision to do it," said Matt McIlwain, a partner at venture-capital firm Madrona Venture Group. "Microsoft is leading with the apps and services it has... versus leading with the devices they have. I think that's a smart strategic move."

The session included several touches characteristic of Mr. Nadella. His dress—dark jeans, a fitted polo shirt and a pair of his familiar sleek eyeglasses—was more casual than Mr. Ballmer's typical khaki-and-blazer wardrobe.

Continuing a habit of dropping literary references, Mr. Nadella leaned on lines from T.S. Eliot's poem "Little Gidding," an admonition to remember the lessons of the past, to explain how he was seeing Microsoft with a fresh eye after 22 years at the company.

"You should never cease from exploration, and at the end of all exploring you arrive where you started and know the place for the very first time," said Mr. Nadella, paraphrasing the Eliot poem. "For me that has never been more true."

Mr. Nadella's strategy session included a demonstration of Office for the iPad. The software has been reworked so the features and menu options work well on the touchscreen device. Wall Street analysts have been enthused about the revenue potential for putting Office on many of the 190 million iPads sold since 2010.

Full use of the Office iPad app is limited to subscribers to Office 365, an online-friendly version that users "rent" for an annual subscription rather than buy to install on their computers. For consumers, Office 365 costs $99.99 a year.

Thursday afternoon, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted on Twitter, "Welcome to the iPad and the App Store," and he included Mr. Nadella's Twitter user name.

In another move, Mr. Nadella and other Microsoft executives said they are unifying several pieces of company software to help corporations keep tabs on all their employees computers, smartphones and tablets—no matter whether those devices are Windows-powered, or run software from Apple or Google.

The mobile-device management software helps companies delete sensitive information if an employee loses his corporate phone, for example, and lets workers download proprietary company apps on their personal computing devices.