I raised my hand for this job: Satya Nadella

India-born Satya Nadella said he "raised his hand" to take up the top job at Microsoft as he believed his role as CEO would enable him to make an impact in an increasingly "software-powered" world and drive innovation.

A 22-year old Microsoft veteran, 46-year-old Nadella was named the new Chief Executive Officer of the technology giant who will be supported by co-founder Bill Gates in shaping technology and product direction.

Gates, previously Chairman of the Board of Directors, will assume a new role on the Board as Founder and Technology Advisor and will devote more time to the company.

In an interview posted on the company's website, Nadella said he had thought "very deeply" about why he wanted to be the CEO and his answer was that he wanted to make an "impact."

On why he wanted to be CEO of Microsoft, "is the question I asked myself very deeply when the opportunity came up.

"When I think about the core of why I am here, it is about impact. In a software-powered world what is a better place than Microsoft, in terms of being able to take all of this, human potential that we have in 130,000 people and apply it to a world that is rapidly becoming more software driven.

That opportunity is what fundamentally drives me, got me to take this. I raised my hand for this job," Nadella said.

Later Nadella appeared for a brief interview with Microsoft's customers and partners where he stressed that he will focus on innovation in taking Microsoft forward as technology continues to shape everyday life.

"This business of ours is exciting because in some sense it does not really respect tradition in what we have done in the past. It is all about the innovation going forward... The co-evolution of hardware and software is going to define a lot of what is going to happen," Nadella said.

"We are living in a cloud-first, mobile-first world," Nadella said in the webcast.

"That is the world we are building for, and all of this is going to be mediated by software," he said.