Bill Gates: Microsoft Isn’t ‘The’ Leading Company Because of Windows Phone
- Mehedi Hassan
- Jun 24, 2019
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In a recent interview, Microsoft founder Bill Gates discussed Microsoft’s business and one of its biggest mistakes: Windows Phone. Gates stated that his biggest mistake ever was the mismanagement he engaged in that led to Microsoft not being what Android is.
Gates later went on to state that there’s only room for a single non-Apple operating system in the market, and having half the apps or even 90% of the apps would have a company on its way to “complete doom”. That was obviously the case for Microsoft, with the lack of modern apps continuing to be a problem for the company’s platform even today.
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Bill Gates even put a value of $400 billion on the Android business, which just goes to show how much of a big market Microsoft missed out on. There really is no point in discussing history anymore though, and we all know about the 8-10 years that led to the disaster Microsoft’s mobile business was as compared to Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhones.
Gates did, however, note that Microsoft’s Windows and Office assets continue to be very strong even after its biggest mistake that was Windows Phone. “It’s amazing to me that having made one of the biggest mistakes of all time, that our other assets Windows and Office are still very strong. So we are a leading company, but if we had gotten that one right, we would be the leading company”. Ouch.
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Conversation 46 comments
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dontbe evil
<p>Gates: <span style="color: rgb(8, 14, 20);">"In the software world it's very particular for platforms… These are winner-takes-all markets. So the greatest mistake ever is whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is. That is, Android is the standard phone platform – non-Apple platform. That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win,"</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(8, 14, 20);">Thurrot/Hassan: "</span>Bill Gates: Microsoft Isn’t ‘The’ Leading Company Because of Windows Phone" , "Gates did, however, note that Microsoft’s Windows and Office assets continue to be very strong even after its biggest mistake that was Windows Phone."</p>
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Bats
<p>The biggest mistake that Microsoft made, with regards to Windows Phone, was their own over-valuing of the Windows OS and Office product. Plain and simple…that's it.</p><p><br></p><p>I remember Bill Gates saying (and I paraphrase) "People are frustrated. They want to use Office….." </p><p><br></p><p>Clearly, years after that statement was made, it's proves to be not true. </p><p><br></p><p>I have said this before and I'll say it again, Microsoft failed to create a viable ecosystem for Windows Phone. Where Apple and Google were creating services for music, video, gaming, productivity, information, etc…. Microsoft created half baked equivalents. </p><p><br></p><p>As for Bill Gates talking about mis-management. Please Bill, I've heard it all before. Was there mismanagement for Microsoft Money? Photodraw/PictureIt? Zune? LOL….Continuum? </p><p><br></p><p>Clearly, ya can't be a market leader if you R&D Department is Google and Apple. </p><p><br></p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#437231">In reply to PeteB:</a></em></blockquote><p>Microsoft had a head-start going down what would become the wrong path. A future refinement of Winmobile would have been unlikely to resemble an iPhone had the iPhone not come along. </p>
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skane2600
<p>I think there were two main reasons why Microsoft failed at mobile. The first early mistake was a lack of vision. They made their mobile OS's mirror the full Windows UI too closely – scrollbars and styluses instead of a finger-touch interface. Apple didn't try to make a "Pocket Mac", but instead thought about how a mobile device <em>should </em>work.</p><p><br></p><p>The second problem was related to the first: Microsoft tried to (sort of) merge mobile with the desktop in Windows 8 resulting in a mobile platform that was anchored to desktop Windows and a Windows desktop that was anchored to mobile The result was a less than optimized mobile platform and a desktop platform that unnecessarily annoyed their core constituency. Having missed the opportunity to get to an iPhone like UI before Apple did and falling behind Android, their efforts might have failed regardless of what they did, however.</p><p><br></p><p> </p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#437241">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, I was aware of and owned a Pocket PC, which is why I mentioned a "Pocket Mac" as an analogous device that would have been a mistake for Apple to base their phone on.</p><p><br></p><p>Yes, as I said there was an unnecessary coupling between the desktop and mobile which harmed them both. I have no idea if the mobile strategy was cooked up by the same people who came up with the ribbon UI.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#437328">In reply to macgeek74:</a></em></blockquote><p>Microsoft approached the Windows Phone as if they were peers in that market rather than the underdog they actually were. So they didn't deal with carriers aggressively (i.e. didn't pay them to feature their phones) and they wanted the same cut from developers that Apple and Google were getting. They should have waved both the registration fee and their cut for the first year or two.</p><p><br></p><p>On top of that, in support of their ill-fated goal of "One Windows" they pulled the rug out from under the developers they already had by creating UWP and making it the new standard which meant that apps that adopted that standard couldn't run on the vast majority of existing Windows Phones thus splitting their already tiny market in two. </p><p><br></p><p>Pretty much <em>all </em>of Microsoft's trouble with Windows Phones were self-inflicted </p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#437664">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm not sure that particular vaccine has been effective.</p>
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