Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, has been unusually forthright about the company’s position in the mobile market at the ongoing All Things Digital D8 conference, saying that Microsoft is very much “number ice” in the mobile standings.

Ballmer is now in direct control of Windows Phone 7

Computerworld is reporting that Ballmer made the statement in response to questions asked about Microsoft’s plan for the mobile market and its upcoming release of its mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7. When asked about the recent announcement that Microsoft’s president of entertainment and devices division, Robbie Bach, would be retiring, Ballmer explained that,

“We had a good longtime employee who wanted retire and he’s going to do so. And it doesn’t make sense to replace him.”

That much alone is interesting, if only because of the organisational structure it leaves behind in Microsoft. Without Bach in place (or anyone selected to replace him) Ballmer is now left in direct control over the new mobile OS. Just what that might mean for Windows Phone 7 is anyone’s guess for the moment, but Ballmer seems very much aware of how much Microsoft has on the line with the OS.

Curiously enough, Ballmer goes on to point out that with its previous versions of Windows Mobile, Microsoft had been very much ahead of the rest of the market, in terms of mobile operating systems, but that it had let other companies pass it by. Ballmer said,

“We were ahead of this game and now we find ourselves No. 5 in the market… We missed a whole cycle. I’ve been quite public about the fact that I’ve made some changes in leadership around our Windows Phone software … The excellence in execution is an important part of innovation.”

When asked about other companies in the mobile market, Ballmer was fairly tractable, saying that he felt that Microsoft had something of a skewed perception of Nokia, one of the most popular phone brands in the world, because of its relatively low penetration in the US. Ballmer was also fairly candid about Apple’s iPhone, saying that, while people focus on the App Store, the most impressive thing about Apple’s smartphone is that it has such a solid browser, while many mobile devices simply can’t offer the same functionality.