Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, recently admitted to making a costly mistake that caused the company to miss a $400 billion opportunity in the mobile market. During an interview with Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz, Gates acknowledged that his mismanagement led to Microsoft’s failure to become the dominant non-Apple mobile operating system. “The biggest mistake of all time is the mismanagement that made Microsoft not what Android is,” Gates confessed.
He explained that creating a versatile, customizable mobile operating system similar to Android would have been “a natural thing for Microsoft to win.”
However, various management issues and antitrust issues prevented Microsoft from capitalizing on this opportunity. As a result, Google acquired Android in 2005 and launched its first device in 2008, while Apple had already introduced the iPhone in 2007. Gates highlighted the competitive nature of platform markets, saying: “Across the world Software, especially for platforms, are winner-take-all markets.
Bill Gates admits costly mistake
There’s room for exactly one non-Apple operating system, and what’s that worth? 400 billion dollars that would be transferred from Google to Microsoft.
Android co-founder Rich Miner also spoke about Microsoft’s missed opportunity.
Miner revealed that he helped create Android to prevent Microsoft from dominating the mobile space like they did with PCs. “So, sorry, Bill, you are more responsible for the loss of the $400 billion than you think,” Miner concluded. Despite this significant misstep, Microsoft remains one of the most valuable companies in the world, competing with Apple and NVIDIA.
The tech giant continues to see success with its broad product offering and has recently seen gains through early investments and adoption of generative AI into its technology stack.
