Bill Gates admitted to the biggest mistake of his life

One of the most influential figures in the world of technology, Bill Gates, has recently admitted to the biggest mistake of his life in a controversial speech. He clearly pointed out Microsoft’s management and calculation mistakes in the field of smartphones.

Gates admitted that Microsoft’s failure to enter the competitive market of mobile operating systems in time has resulted in a huge loss of 400 billion dollars for this technology giant. He emphasized that if Microsoft could take a significant share of this market, it would become one of the main players in the field of mobile phones today.

This admission not only shows the courage and honesty of Bill Gates, but also reminds us that even the largest companies may face wrong decisions. Microsoft’s failure in the smartphone market provided an opportunity for competitors like Google and Apple to continue their dominance in this field.

Bill Gates emphasized that the software industry, especially the field of platforms, has the potential to shape the business destiny of any company. He admitted that his biggest managerial mistake was losing a golden opportunity for Microsoft; An opportunity that could have made the company the undisputed giant of the mobile operating system market, a position now held by Google’s Android.

Gates showed with a thumb calculation that winning the second place in the mobile operating system market would have given Microsoft a huge profit of 400 billion dollars. While Apple’s iPhone appeared in 2007 and Android devices in 2008, Microsoft entered this competitive market much later with the release of Windows Phone 7 in 2010. At that time, Apple and Google had practically dominated this industry with a market share of nearly 100%.

Gates believes that in technology markets, the principle of “winner takes all” prevails. In other words, a company that enters the market early and can take a significant share of it, can easily sidestep its competitors and dominate the market. Referring to the remarkable success of Windows in the personal computer market, he emphasizes that not repeating this success in the mobile field has been one of the biggest regrets of his career.

Of course, Rich Miner, as one of the founders of the Android operating system, has severely criticized Gates in response to his statements. Referring to his efforts to create an open source and free operating system, Miner said that the purpose of Android development is to counter the monopolies of companies such as Microsoft and Apple. He believes that Android, by providing a free and expandable platform, has stimulated competition in the technology market and prevented the dominance of large companies on the market.

The contrast between the remarkable success of Windows in the PC market and the failure of Microsoft in the smartphone market raises many questions about the reasons for this failure. Some experts believe that Microsoft’s closed and exclusive approach to product development has been one of the main reasons for the company’s lack of success in the mobile market. On the other hand, Android was able to grow quickly and become the most popular smartphone operating system in the world with its open source approach and extensive developer participation.