The big mistake that Bill Gates spent 400 billion dollars on

The co-founder of Microsoft and once the richest person in the world, Bill Gates, admitted what his biggest mistake in his career was.

In a recent interview, Gates spoke candidly about Microsoft’s failure to secure a leading position in the mobile operating system market – a failure that allowed Google’s Android to dominate as a non-Apple platform.

“You know, in the software world, especially for platforms, these are markets that tend to win all,” Gates explained during his conversation with Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz.

“My biggest mistake ever is that Microsoft didn’t own Android,” he added.

“Android is the standard phone platform that Apple is not. It was natural that Microsoft would win on this front,” Gates continued.

Gates used simple math to conclude that if Microsoft had secured second place in the mobile operating system market, the company could have taken a slice of the $400 billion pie – money that instead strengthened Google.

Apple’s iPhone debuted in June 2007, followed by Android devices in September 2008. Microsoft’s entry into the smartphone arena with Windows Phone 7 came much later – in October 2010.

By that time, the mobile operating system market was already dominated, with Android and iOS together holding 99.9% of the market share.

Gates admitted that the delay in joining this game sealed Microsoft’s fate in mobile devices.

Microsoft’s failure in the mobile device world contrasts sharply with the company’s dominance in the PC market. The company’s Windows operating system transformed the PC market in the 1990s and remains the cornerstone of its $3 trillion value.

CREATED by:

“KORÇA BOOM”