When you’re Bill Gates, you must constantly feel like you’re on top of the world. As one of the richest men to have ever born, one must wonder how many times Mr. Gates has struck out with an idea. What mistakes or regrets does this man have? At a Venture Capital event earlier this week, the Microsoft founder revealed that very secret.
For most of his career, Gates has been in lockstep with Apple competing on the world stage to create the best technology. The two sides have been fighting for decades, seeing who makes the best stuff. But one area where Gates didn’t jump in is in the phone industry. While Apple is working on putting out the iPhone, Microsoft should’ve been creating one for themselves.
The market was wide open for a non-Apple phone to revolutionize the mobile industry and take on the iPhone. Microsoft could’ve been in the same position that Android is in now. Android currently powers about 80% of the entire non-Apple mobile market. This market share, according to Gates, is worth around $400 billion.
It’s not like Microsoft wasn’t already working on a prototype. They were deeply involved in created a Windows Mobile OS about a year before Android even considered the opportunity. Rather than putting out that phone, Microsoft made a huge mistake. The CEO at the time, Steve Ballmer, apparently had no vision for what would change the world forever. He said the mobile application would have no appeal for businesses because it doesn’t have a keyboard.
Bill Gates’ Deep Regret
Bill Gates knows that he could’ve had the same market share that Android currently has. They could be in that spot right now, but missed out on the amazing opportunity to jump in right when they could’ve. That means they lost out on around $400 billion, making this perhaps one of the greatest all-time blunders in technology history.
“You know, in the software world, in particular for platforms, these are winner-take-all markets. So, you know, the greatest mistake ever is the whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft to not be what Android is, [meaning] Android is the standard non-Apple phone form platform. That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win. It really is winner take all. If you’re there with half as many apps or 90% as many apps, you’re on your way to complete doom,” said Gates.
He goes on about his regret:
“It’s amazing to me, having made one of the greatest mistakes of all time — and there were this antitrust lawsuit and various things that, you know, our other assets, Windows, Office, are still very strong. So, we are a leading company. If we got that one right, we would be the company. But oh well.”
Microsoft did release their Windows Phone in 2010. It was actually fairly functional and worked well, but the world was moving in a different direction. The Windows Phone lacked support for apps, which ultimately resulted in its death. And rather than make the change and dive deeper into the industry, they pulled back and customers flocked to Android.
Later on, Microsoft attempted to correct their mistake by spending $7 billion to acquire Nokia, but that didn’t go anywhere either. At this time, Gates feels it’s too late. There’s only room for one competitor to take on Apple and Google and other industries trying to break through, Microsoft is content to sit back and make their impact felt in other ways.
