Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer took the stage for the very first time at CES—in the place of Bill Gates—to talk about the convergence of the three screens among phones, PCs and TVs. One of the crucial components, of course, is the Windows Mobile platform, which extends “the PC experience to the phone.” Without saying it, Ballmer pointed out the how the company compares to others, such as Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), which said in its last update that it has sold more than 10 million iPhones. Ballmer: “I’m excited about the momentum we have…We have delivered 11 different mobile phones that have each sold a million units each, and in the past year, we’ve brought to market over 30 new Windows Mobile phones, or more than any other mobile platform in the market….and our partners have sold more than 20 million Windows Phones in the past 12 months.”

To build on that, Ballmer briefly announced the mobile-search partnership with Verizon Wireless (See our story here). “Search will become a bigger part of the overall mobile experience, which makes me really excited about partnership with Verizon (NYSE: VZ). We are at the start of transforming what Windows is…I’m proud of what we are delivering across the PC, in the cloud and on the phone.”

Much more at our CES 2009 channel

• Microsoft Plunges Into Mobile Advertising With Verizon Wireless Deal
• Microsoft Beats Out Google To Win Verizon Search Deal