According to Bill Gates that is….
The Microsoft founder today stated he believed Microsoft’s antitrust issues in the early 2000s was the reason for Windows Mobile not being the OS that people use today. When asked about the impact of the Justice Department’s antitrust case. He came out swinging against how harmful the investigation was and exclaimed how, “We were so close.”
There’s no doubt that the antitrust lawsuit was bad for Microsoft. We would have been more focused on creating the phone operating system and so instead of using Android today you would be using Windows Mobile if it hadn’t been for the antitrust case.
When asked about Android beating Windows, Gates admits to being “too distracted” with defending Microsoft, and interestingly mentioned a scenario where the company was “three months too late with the release that Motorola would have used on a phone.” It’s not clear what device he was referring to, or even when that time frame was.
Gates stated that he believed that Microsoft lost out on $400 billion due to Android beating Windows Mobile and taking the de facto OS position.
But now, Microsoft is planning to use Android to power next year’s Surface Duo. Oh how things have changed…