Satya Nadella said that I think one of the most difficult and wrong decisions, which a lot of people talk about, was to leave the smartphone business.
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella has said that the company's exit from the smartphone business was a mistake. This could have been handled better. After struggling to sell Windows smartphones due to the advances of Google's Android and Apple's iOS operating systems (OS), Microsoft first said in 2017 that the software giant would no longer develop new features or hardware for Windows 10 Mobile. .
On December 10, 2019, Windows 10 Mobile users stopped receiving new security updates, bug fixes, and assist support options. In his latest interview with Business Insider this week, Nadella admitted that abandoning Windows Phone and Mobile was a mistake.
"I think one of the hardest and wrong decisions, which a lot of people talk about, was to leave the smartphone business," Nadella was quoted as saying in the report. "Looking back," Nadella said. "I think there could be ways that we could rework the computing categories between PCs, tablets and phones."
Nadella took over from former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in 2014. In 2015, Microsoft cut 7,800 jobs, primarily in its phone business, and wrote off $7.6 billion related to its acquisition of the Nokia phone business. "We are moving from a strategy of growing a standalone phone business to a strategy of building a vibrant Windows ecosystem, including our first-party device family," Nadella wrote in an email to employees.
Microsoft finally confirmed in 2017 that Windows Phones were over. Company co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates had also said that his biggest mistake so far was Microsoft's loss to Android.