Now that Satya Nadella is getting comfortable behind his new desk at Microsoft, the world is eager to see what the new CEO plans to do with the company, and most especially in the crucial mobile market. As well as dealing with this headache, Nadella will also need to figure out what to do with a number of internal CEO candidates who were passed over for the top job.

Yesterday, Nadella gave his first speech to Microsoft’s biggest partners and customers in a meeting at the Redmond firm’s headquarters that was broadcast over the web, reports the Wall Street Journal. Nadella iterated his belief that a “mobile-first, cloud-first” world would define the company’s future, and said that “the question for us is, ‘How do we thrive in that world? What innovation can we bring?'”

Certainly, where the cloud is concerned, Nadella knows his stuff and Microsoft should have no trouble competing in that department. Check out the video below featuring Nadella’s appearance on theCUBE for more of his ideas on cloud consumerization.

For now, the mobile world is one that’s focused chiefly on tablets and phones, but that’s not how it will be in future – it’s already begun transitioning to the “Internet of Things”, a universe that’ll see just about every kind of device connected to the web. Even so, Nadella insisted that software remains at the heart of everything.

Nadella also fielded questions on the business and consumer sides of Microsoft. With the exception of the Xbox, Microsoft has struggled in consumer markets over the last few years, as evidenced by the minuscule global market share of its Windows Phone platform in comparison to Android and iOS, and the poor reception of Windows 8. Re/Code reports that Nadella responded to these concerns by stating that innovation can’t be split between business and consumer segments. Rather, innovation “starts with the user,” he said, noting that while enterprises have certain special needs, most devices are used both at home and at work.

Nadella was also asked why Microsoft felt in necessary to spend $7.4 billion on Nokia’s handset business, and build its Surface tablets, if he believes the world is all about software. “Devices are where these experiences come together,” he replied. He refused to elaborate on Microsoft’s mobile strategy, or say how it plans to integrate Nokia’s handset business and its 32,000-odd employees – but that’s hardly surprising because the deal hasn’t been formally completed yet. Even so, Nadella will be under severe pressure to boost Windows Phone’s fortunes.

Aside from the company’s strategy, people are also wondering what kind of role those employees who were passed over for the CEO job might play at the company. These include COO Kevin Turner, executive vice president and ex-Skype chief Tony Bates, and Stephen Elop, who is set to rejoin Microsoft when the Nokia deal is completed.

Bloomberg says that the three of them have every incentive to stay at the company, especially in the case of Elop, who’ll collect a paycheck of around $25 million if he stays for 18 months. Meanwhile, Turner and Bates are both said to own a great deal of Microsoft stock, and so both will be keen to ensure the company’s continued success.