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Bill Gates Regrets Microsoft Losing to Android as Dominant Platform Beyond iPhone

Yeah, I regret that too. Not a huge fan of Android and it would have have been nice to have an alternative besides iOS if I ever wanted to change mobile operating systems.

I was the first in my family to adopt iOS. The rest used Windows Phone, and from what I could tell, it wasn't bad at all.
 
Moonjumper said:
iOS and Android are going to be hard to beat, but Huawei's mobile OS might stand a chance if it gets a start with traction in China.

(I don't mean this as a political post, I just see an opportunity for a new OS that might get backing in it's home country, I'm interested in what a new OS starting from zero would be like)
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Important thought! You can also imagine that Windows10 will soon feel completely slow, decelerating and backward against the upcoming chinese PC-OS. That can worry you already now: If the Chinese government then behaves similarly towards the West as the current American government does towards China, it will not allow its efficient PC operating system to enter the West. And then the Windows programmers and office 365 guys in the West will clatter on with their creaking keyboards.
 
Microsoft really did make a huge mistake, because they were the ones with potentials. They had a possible ecosystem changer. If they leveraged Skype or Messenger as their iMessage platform to keep it all in sync between desktop, tablet, mobile that would have been huge. Being able to code apps using UWP to get cross hardware development going. Excellent mobile hardware from Nokia. My Nokia Lumia 920 is still one of my favorite phones, Qi charging, amazing screen, solid build, etc. It was all there I thought, they just pushed it pretty darn late. You can also argue though that if it wasn't for Android and iPhone Microsoft never would have even gotten that far along with Windows Phone anyways. Why should they have been a response to iPhone? They should have been aiming to advanced productivity, but instead they were busy trying to figure out how to respond. Think that's why even when Apple is late to the game, they do it mostly right.
 
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Moonjumper said:
iOS and Android are going to be hard to beat, but Huawei's mobile OS might stand a chance if it gets a start with traction in China.
Click to expand...

OS doesn't really matter that much over there, it just has to run 1 or 2 of their mega-apps.

Thats why fake iPhones "work" there, once they started that app thats all you see, and hardly any reason to back to the OS itself.
 
Personally I think the year between announcement and delivery of a the Windows Phone killed them. A year is a long time in tech and the game was lost. Everyone was excited when they first showed the demo. But you kind of have to use that excitement by delivering something pretty fast.

Apple used to be the company that announced things and then said you could buy it the following week or so. When Apple started these long lead times (HomePod, Airpod etc..) thats when it all fails. Just have it ready.

Also, MS could have used Silverlight / WP or whatever for a tablet to battle the ipad but they wanted Windows OS to be dominate everywhere. So they took ages with that and the same result. Time is everything in tech.
 
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A tale of arrogance I'd suppose. Feeling like you don't need to hustle, you just need to show up. The really sad part is that's exactly how Microsoft succeeded. They pretty much just show up. They have really produced inspired products in software or hardware. But they won the commodity war. I have no doubt they are the McDonalds of the restaurant world with the same pros and cons.
 
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To be honest though windows is a horrible experience, but were just stuck with it because of what gates said, there is no room for another platform
[doublepost=1561392897][/doublepost]
Jakewilk said:
To be honest though windows is a horrible experience, but were just stuck with it because of what gates said, there is no room for another platform
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We dodged a bullet not having windows phone prevail
 
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I think Ballmer was trying to fool shareholders. His jargon is evasive, he knows what's coming, he has no leverage to fight it, and it's his fault. It's a CEO dragging himself to maintain his position knowing he doesn't deserve it.
 
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Moonjumper said:
iOS and Android are going to be hard to beat, but Huawei's mobile OS might stand a chance if it gets a start with traction in China.

(I don't mean this as a political post, I just see an opportunity for a new OS that might get backing in it's home country, I'm interested in what a new OS starting from zero would be like)
Click to expand...

I don't know about that, at this time I'm not sure large portions of the world want a Chinese Govt run operating system installed on their devices. And there truly is no reason not to lump the tech companies in China in with the Govt. BUT you do bring up a really fascinating point. I think we are headed for 'nationalism' in tech. So there may well be systems in countries only for those countries. I think North Korea has some weird forked OS that they only use. I can imagine that happening. At some point, the tech money is so huge, and the technology so smart and invasive that it will be seen, especially by those who are fascist-minded to begin with, as 'national' importance and - the days of a universal tech will be gone.
 
In Ballmer's credit he does say it may sell well. Everyone remembers the laughter portion, but I think in the back of his mind he knew consumer's could careless about a keyboard and Apple with their iPod was on a serious roll.
 
Jakewilk said:
We dodged a bullet not having windows phone prevail
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Things would be better if Microsoft succeeded with Windows Mobile. Think of what we’d have that Android can’t give you:

  • New OS updates delivered as soon as they are available without waiting for an OEM or carrier to release them.
  • Security updates released immediately (instead of 30-60 days later, or not at all).
  • A seamless experience between your phone and desktop/laptop like Apple users enjoy with Continuity.
  • Using a device without all the data-mining of a company like Google.
  • Universal Apps that can run on your phone or your PC.
 
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MacRumors said:



At a recent event hosted by venture capital firm Village Global, highlighted by TechCrunch, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates lamented on losing to Android, calling it "one of the greatest mistakes of all time."

Skip to the 11:40 mark:


Transcript:In fairness, it was Steve Ballmer who served as Microsoft's CEO between 2000 and 2014. Ballmer is infamous for laughing off the iPhone, but Apple and Google had the last laugh, as Windows Phone failed to ever gain any significant market share among mobile operating systems and is ultimately being abandoned.


Gates added that there is room for exactly one non-Apple mobile operating system, which is certainly the case as of today. Together, Android and iOS have an estimated 99.9 percent market share, according to research firm Gartner, having squeezed out former heavyweights like BlackBerry and Nokia.

lumia-microsoft.jpg

Simply put, Apple upended the industry when it launched the iPhone in 2007, and Microsoft failed to respond. Windows Phone could have been the commoditized mobile platform, as Windows is to Mac, but Android won the battle.

Article Link: Bill Gates Regrets Microsoft Losing to Android as Dominant Platform Beyond iPhone
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[doublepost=1561393384][/doublepost]Naa...the biggest mistake of his was putting Ballmer in charge then leaving the company.
 
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I am inclined to agree with how Mr. Gates put things, there is room for exactly one other non-Apple contender. When dealing with what PEOPLE want, it breaks down to comfort or control.

My analogy would be do you want an Automatic Transmission, or a Manual Transmission. It's one or the other.
 
Having written, with a team of two others, the first cross-platform SiriusXM Satellite Radio player applications for Windows, Windows Mobile, iPhone, Mac OS, etc... when Windows Phone first was announced, Microsoft contacted me to port the Windows Mobile App over to Windows Phone and to be one of the first Apps in the Windows Phone App Store.

They sent me beta hardware (an LG produced phone) with the latest build of Windows Phone.

It was horrible. I returned the phone within a week, documented all of the missing and inadequate features, and told them in my opinion it was wasted effort as the platform was non-competitive.

They laughed at me too and told me I was missing a huge opportunity.

So... it seems this type of denial is something systemic in Microsoft when it comes to non-desktop platforms. The vision just isn't there IMHO.
 
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StuBeck said:
Whats usually forgotten is the context where he said the stupid comments. It was a $600 phone that required a contract and didn't have 3G, which in 2007 was crazy. Apple responded to that criticism quickly by lowering the price, and then the next version was a much more reasonable $200 on contract with the App Store which changed everything.
Click to expand...

If anything, that initial pricing misstep by Apple probably helped them gain more of a lead. Their competition took them even less seriously because of this.
 
MSFT is still a more valuable company than Apple, and will probably be increasing this lead over time. Apple has become a device company, while MSFT has returned to its roots of being primary a software and services company.
 
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The iPhone really caught everyone by surprise. Microsoft had nothing on this - Windows Mobile was pretty bad. Google had to throw out a ton of work on what would have been their first Android phone (codenamed Sooner), which was more of a Blackberry clone: it had a tiny screen, a physical keyboard and no touch screen. They worked very hard to pivot and get their iPhone clone out by fall of 2008. Google had only recently bought Android and all its developers in 2005, that team must have been under tremendous pressure.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technol...y-google-had-to-start-over-on-android/282479/
 
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BigBoy2018 said:
Actually Gates biggest mistake was letting Balmer take the helm. HE deserves blame for not dominating the phone market.
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No, the blame belongs with Gates not Ballmer. Gates picked Ballmer as his successor primarily for how long their relationship goes back as well as how much they communicated together. Ballmer was put in place to allow Gates to continue to have as much of a voice as he wanted.

Satya is a better fit for Microsoft now primarily because he's not listening to Gates as much. Microsoft lost the current wave not because Ballmer was an idiot, but because Gates and company didn't learn until it was too late that the industry had moved past their dominance.

Android succeeded by copying Microsoft's model, but dropping the parts that wasn't clouded by arrogance. Microsoft thought they could force the industry to move their way due to the dominance of Windows, but they weren't ready for the reality that mobile was quickly moving toward self-sufficiency. Meaning applications would be written for mobile platforms without needing to be tied to businesses and desktop computing platforms. In addition to this, prior to Android's rise Microsoft was the dominant mobile computing platform.

It is cool to blame Ballmer alone, but the truth is Gates is right that he bears a lot of blame here.
 
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