Microsoft CEO admits he should’ve fought harder with Windows Phone

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was interviewed by Business Insider, and when asked about his greatest strategic mistake, the answer was obvious.

The decision I think a lot of people talk about - and one of the most difficult decisions I made when I became CEO -was our exit of what I'll call the mobile phone as defined then. In retrospect, I think there could have been ways we could have made it work by perhaps reinventing the category of computing between PCs, tablets, and phones.

Microsoft's failures to anticipate the mobile market is legendary at this point, but I don't think I've ever heard a Microsoft CEO state they should've tried harder and stuck with it. I was a huge fan of Windows Phone 7 and 8, and even imported the first devices running those platforms from the US, because the platforms were not available in The Netherlands at the time. However, Windows Phone was a dead end. Even regular Windows has a big application problem, and it was a millions of times worse on Windows Phone.

I doubt any amount of money or development resources would've changed the fate of Windows Phone. It would've been good for the industry as a whole had Microsoft not failed, but the reality of it is that Android and iOS were already so far ahead it was impossible for anyone, even someone as large and wealthy as Microsoft, to catch up. Add to that the countless terrible business and technological decisions the company made with Windows Phone, and it just wasn't meant to be.

I understand that Nadella pines for the slice of the money pie they've could've had, but I doubt he sincerely thinks things could've turned out any differently.