CEO Satya Nadella thinks Microsoft hung up on Windows Phone too soon
- Reference: 1698238806
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/10/25/nadella_windows_phone_regrets/
- Source link:
In an [1]interview with Business Insider , Nadella stopped short of directly calling the move a mistake, despite prompting from the interviewer, but admitted things could have gone differently.
He said: "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.
[2]
"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."
[3]
[4]
It is hard to pinpoint [5]the exact moment when Windows Phone died . The platform was launched in 2010 and, despite Microsoft spending billions on acquiring Nokia, was killed off by axe-wielding Microsoft engineers in 2014. The corpse continued twitching into the Windows 10 era before the plug was [6]pulled once and for all in 2019 , and security updates for the last devices were halted.
Nadella is not alone in regretting Microsoft's catastrophic foray into the Windows Phone. In 2019, [7]Bill Gates expressed regret for the errors that left Android as the primary non-Apple mobile operating system. Former CEO Steve Ballmer [8]similarly admitted to dropping the ball where phones were concerned.
[9]
That said, Microsoft recently re-entered the mobile device market with the Surface Duo, aligning with Nadella's desire for category reinvention. The foldable does not, however, appear to be setting the market ablaze. Perhaps things might have been different had it launched as a Windows Phone years earlier.
Considering Microsoft's current financial success, it is difficult to regard Windows Phone as a misstep, certainly with respect to the state of the operating system and ecosystem. Yes, it could have been made to work, but hindsight is tricky.
[10]Microsoft opens early access to AI assistant for infosec, Security Copilot
[11]Microsoft admits 'power issue' downed Azure services in West Europe
[12]Microsoft CEO Nadella's compensation drops... to $48M
[13]Take Windows 11... please. Leaks confirm low numbers for Microsoft's latest OS
Cloud grows as Redmond posts $56B topline
Microsoft has turned in some impressive financial results under Nadella's leadership despite mass layoffs.
During last night's FY24 Q1 earnings [14]release for the three months ended September 30, the company reported an increase in revenue to $56.5 billion, up 13 percent on the same period last year.
Revenues rose across the board, including a 19 percent jump to $24.3 billion in Intelligent Cloud.
The only storm cloud on the horizon came in the form of Devices, the unit which suffered a 22 percent decrease in revenue.
As for Nadella, he said his biggest mistake was actually to do with people.
He said: "The curation of culture, and the holding of standards as a leader, becomes the most important thing. Because everybody can sense the difference between what you say and what you do.
"Over the years, I would sometimes say some stuff, but not really mean it. And then, well, that doesn't work. That's why getting what you think, what you say, and what you do aligned is a struggle."
[15]
Those lessons have been learned as the company seems laser-focused on shoehorning AI technology into every one of its products. Whether its customers like it or not. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-interview-ai-activision-blizzard-axel-springer-2023-10
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZTk7pPoHVB3ddjWN@Ggi@QAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZTk7pPoHVB3ddjWN@Ggi@QAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZTk7pPoHVB3ddjWN@Ggi@QAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2016/05/27/windows_phone_history_special_report/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2019/12/10/buh_bye_windows_phone/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2019/06/24/bill_gates/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2014/03/04/microsoft_steve_ballmer_oxford/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZTk7pPoHVB3ddjWN@Ggi@QAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/23/microsoft_security_copilots_early_access/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/23/microsoft_azure_power_issue/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/20/microsoft_ceo_nadellas_compensation_drops/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/18/take_windows_11_please/
[14] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/default.aspx
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZTk7pPoHVB3ddjWN@Ggi@QAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Plus, to be honest, Windows Phone was the only place where those ugly tiles made any sense. The missus kept a Nokia 520 (WinPhone8) as far as possible and it was not unpleasant at all to use.
Falling from a staircase and the lack of Whatsapp sealed its fate.
The Nokia, not the missus.
And more importantly, not having all the apps that get around 100,000 downloads on Google and Apple.
Individually, their absence only affects about 200,000 potential customers, but collectively, pretty much everyone has at least one of them.
A friend of mine who would befriend everyone and their granny on Facebork moved to Windows Phone. She had about 1500 friends on Facebork most of whom were only “friends” through that site, she’d never met most of them. When she got her new phone she had the bright idea to add her Facebork account to her new mobile at which point along with her actual friends her contacts were swelled with the 1500 Facebork friends. When she asked about removing these “friends” from her contacts she was told to unfriend them on Facebork and the refriend them without her Facebork account being integrated.
She didn’t stick with that phone too long and I was the beneficiary of a shiny Nokia Lucia 1020 with the 41MP camera.
The reason many people "think of" Microsoft the way they do is precisely because they obsessively stomped on competition between ecosystems, to the detriment of consumers.
And we all know they would have done exactly the same things with phones as they did with PCs if Windows had ever got majority market share there too.
Not if you're an ISV. It's bad enough having to build two versions of your app for technically completely different platforms. Another one could've resulted in fragmentation and exclusive deals like we're seeing on game consoles today.
Consumers wouldn't have benefited but instead would've had to gamble on a platform and lost out if they chose the wrong one.
Wrong software
The genius of Apple's approach was to think of the phone as an entertainment and information device that integrates into Apple's software ecosystem rather than being like a PDA, a peripheral of a desktop business system.
Microsoft wasn't just one player in the smartphone market, smartphones were around before Apple but they were invariably a Palm Pilot with limited communication capability. Some devices could play music and even videos but like the raft of awful MP3 players from that era somehow they just couldn't get the software right.
(Apple had made a PDA, the Newton, many years ago and obviously learned from the experience.)
Re: Wrong software
The genius of Apple's approach was to think of the phone as an entertainment and information device that integrates into Apple's software ecosystem rather than being like a PDA, a peripheral of a desktop business system.
Huh? The iPhone started with web apps and was hanging off iTunes until MacOS Catalina.
Microsoft wasn't just one player in the smartphone market, smartphones were around before Apple but they were invariably a Palm Pilot with limited communication capability. Some devices could play music and even videos but like the raft of awful MP3 players from that era somehow they just couldn't get the software right.
Yeah, [1]Nokia somehow never managed to market their phones properly in North America .
[1] https://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=iphone/
I beg to differ
Winphone should have been taken behind the barn and powered down just like it happened. M$ would never have made anything worth while out of it… Look what we’ve been asked(forced?) to use as a Desktop OS since Win7.
It was a failure Sat, stop trying to rewrite history…
I had a WinPhone
It was big. It had crap battery life. I got the special extended battery, with the special bulgy battery cover, which didn't quite fit properly. The battery life was still crap, and now the cover fell off. Often. Also, it ran WinPhone 5 (I think, it's been a while) which could not be updated to WinPhone 6. Something like that. I could get most, but not all, of the apps I wanted.
When I got tired of struggling with it, I replaced it with an iPhone. The iPhone didn't have the greatest battery life, but was far superior to the WinPhone, which should tell you all you need to know about the battery life perpetuated by the WinPhone.
I would have had to replace all my apps anyway if I got another WinPhone, as the old apps weren't compatible with the new WinPhone OS. And I could get all the apps I wanted to use on the iPhone.
I have stayed with iPhones ever since. The battery life has improved. The app store has all the apps I want. I wouldn't go back to WinPhone unless Sad Nad paid me. And he would have to pay me quite a lot.
Microsoft Lumia 650
I still have one (several). Last price was ~£15.
4G ready, acts as mobile hotspot, makes calls, sends texts, no nagging to update, cheap replacement batteries.
What more do I need?
Re: Microsoft Lumia 650
I still treasure my winPhone. Worked a like a charm until I dropped it once too often. Currently using some Android POS where the term "multithreaded" seems to have lost its meaning.
As for Apple.. Hell no.
Re: Microsoft Lumia 650
No nagging to update - or, in other words, vulnerable to absolutely everything.
Re: Microsoft Lumia 650
WhatsApp?
Re: Microsoft Lumia 650
So you're not using as a smartphone?
"Over the years, I would sometimes say some stuff, but not really mean it. And then, well, that doesn't work. That's why getting what you think, what you say, and what you do aligned is a struggle."
CEOs almost never say anything thoughtful, but this is actually pretty good, whatever you or I might think about the speaker or his employer.
I actually rather liked Wimdows Phone - the OS was straightforward and well laid out, users had no difficulties with it, and it gave fewer problems than Android. The tile screen which was such a disaster on W8 actually worked really well on a phone. We had quite a few of them at work, which obviously I had to replace with Android ones when Windows phone was dumped by Microsoft.
I really miss windows phone.
I even bought one. Two, if you count the one that my company at the time bought me for use when I was off site. Both were really good, I think massively better than the android equivalent of the day, but like so many things Microsoft they couldn't leave well enough alone. Rather than iterate cautiously on a good product until it becomes a great one they kept making random sweeping changes (remember the way winpho8 was *completely Incompatible* with winpho7) pissing off users who didn't ask for them, while ignoring minor irritations that everyone was complaining about.
Failure
There were so many screw-ups and u-turns with Windows Mobile that it became clear early on for most ISV's that the platform wouldn't last. And so they bailed, killing off any hope of becoming the coveted "third pillar" as Ballmer would call it.
And although some swear by its rectangular UI I believe most users thought it quaint and unwieldy. Ballmer made a deal with Jobs where the latter would give his blessing if he promised not to copy the iOS user interface. So Microsoft had to come up with something radically different, just to be different. In return Job made an oath not to sue Microsoft into oblivion since Apple owned many user interface patents for mobile devices.
Google simply took the gamble and copied iOS verbatim and said: "We'll see you in court!" After more than a billion Android handsets were sold no judge or politician dared to ban the platform, so Google won the gamble and the rest is history.
I'll be happy when they bring back the Windows phone..
.. and they will, but using Windows Subsystem for Android and Amazon app store.
It is hard to pinpoint .....
"It is hard to pinpoint the exact moment when Windows Phone died."
Not really, it died in 2010 as soon as it launched; offering an OS that was less customisable that Android, had less apps available and required paying MS for a license for it to be installed on a manufactures hardware.
Regardless what you think of Microsoft, I think it would've been nice for consumers if there was a bit more competition between ecosystems.