Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates revealed that his “greatest mistake ever” was missing the opportunity of being in Android’s position, being a standard non-Apple phone platform.
In his interview with Village Global, Gates reflected on the market’s shift to mobile devices and mentioned the chance it missed “that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is.”
Gates said: “In the software world, particularly for platforms, these are winner-take-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 non-Apple phone 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 percent as many apps, you’re on your way to complete doom. There’s room for exactly one non-Apple operating system and what’s that worth? $400 billion that would be transferred from company G to company M,” Gates added.
(Photo source: YouTube – Village Global)
