Microsoft founder Bill Gates believes the company would have dominated the smartphone world had it not conducted an antitrust investigation in the early 2000s.
Speaking at the New York Times DealBook conference, Gates said he was too distracted by the deal and had missed a deadline to put Windows Mobile on Motorola Devices for several months.
Microsoft dominated smartphones for the first part of the decade with Windows Mobile, but the advantage of the former was limited by the fact that the market for these devices was so small.
Motorola was a major device manufacturer during this period, which means that Windows Mobile could have gained significant market influence and limited opportunities entered by Google with Android.
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"There is no question that the antitrust lawsuit was bad for Microsoft, and we would have put more emphasis on creating the operating system for the phone." So instead of using Android today I'd be using Windows Mobile," Gates said. "If it wasn't the antitrust case... we were so close I was too distracted.
The first Android devices were launched towards the end of the decade and filled the void left by Microsoft for a mobile operating system other than Apple. Android has become for smartphones what Windows is for PCs.
Critically acclaimed, Windows Phone was released too late to allow users, vendors, and developers to benefit from the support they need to meet the challenge. Even the acquisition of former market leader Nokia didn't stop the decline.
Gate had previously described Microsoft's inability to conquer the market as its biggest mistake, worth several hundred billion pounds, but the society at least made peace with its failure. One last silent attempt to gain share with a mobile version of Windows 10 is breathless, and Microsoft is even considering using Android on its next Surface Duo device.
Under Satya Nadella, Microsoft's strategy is to get its services, such as Microsoft Office 365, on as many devices as possible and generate subscription revenue.
By the edge