Microsoft's CEO admits regret over how the Windows Phone was handled

While discussing matters like Bing Chat, business dealings, and more, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella admitted to making mistakes with the company’s mobile phone efforts. Nadella believes there could have been ways for the Windows Phone to succeed.

In an interview with Business Insider, Nadella discussed various topics regarding his life, Microsoft, AI, and his business dealings over the years. At one point in the interview, Nadella is asked, “Is there any kind of real strategic mistake or just wrong decision that you regret in retrospect?”

In response to the question, Nadella provided an answer relating to his company’s exit from the mobile phone market. The Microsoft chief believes that the Windows Phone could’ve had a chance, but he ended up making the wrong call. Nadella states:

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.

When Nadella took over the company from Steve Ballmer, one of his first moves was acquiring Nokia’s phone business for $7.6 billion. The company then went on to create the Windows Phone. Only a couple of years after the purchase, however, Microsoft admitted the Windows Phone was dead.

Since then, the corporation launched the Surface Duo and Surface Duo 2, Microsoft’s take on the foldable phone. Rumors at the beginning of this year claimed the company had actually finalized the design of the third iteration of the Duo. However, it’s said that Microsoft then scrapped the design in favor of a more traditional foldable screen.