Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reveals one of his biggest mistake which he regrets even now

By Team Newsable | First Published Oct 26, 2023, 4:07 PM IST

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has admitted that exiting the mobile phone business was one of the most difficult decision he made. He believes that the company could have done better by reinventing the category of computing.

When Microsoft still had access to Nokia patents and technology, it played a significant role in the mobile space with Windows Phone. After Google bought Android in the late 2000s, the firm chose to abandon the project entirely, handing Google complete control over the mobile ecosystem. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, keeps talking about how the firm made the error of serving customers who use more than two mobile operating systems and losing emphasis on the platform.

Nadella is the most recent CEO of Microsoft to express this sentiment, saying in an interview with a leading portal that the business never saw how mobile devices will affect the industry years from now.

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Nadella was asked whether Microsoft sees the end of Windows Phone as a mistake or a business decision that was forced on the company. Nadella had taken over from Steve Ballmer in 2014 when he was put in place to spearhead a massive turnover for the company. And one of the decisions Nadella made was to exit the mobile business.

Nadella goes on to say that Microsoft might have managed this choice far better, which would have given the firm permission to operate in the mobile space and, who knows, perhaps even develop a formula for success that would have elevated it to a competitive position.

It is scarcely shocking to hear Nadella discuss the mobile sector in an interview once more, and it is quite obvious that leaving the mobile segment is the Microsoft executives' greatest regret of the past several years.

Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates have spoken openly about their regrets on several occasions, so it must be quite painful for them to witness Apple reaping billions of dollars from the sale of iPhones. Previously, Ballmer made fun of Apple for releasing a mobile phone that cost thousands of dollars. Fast-forward to 2023, and the phone is among the finest available, contributing to Apple's rise to become a trillion-dollar company.

There is no doubting that everyone has regrets, and giving up on the mobile business so easily would be one of the biggest that Nadella and Co. will always have with them.

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