Microsoft CEO acknowledges that discontinuing Windows phones was a mistake

Windows phones came with a lot of interesting features, like accented apps, smooth integration with social media sites, and live tiles. In a recent interview, the CEO of the company stated that the idea of killing Windows phones was a huge mistake. Satya Nadella shared his views in an interview with Business Insider.

In 2014, Nadella took charge as the CEO of the company. He was responsible for the phone division of Microsoft. Given that the Windows phone scenario resulted in a whopping $7.6 billion write-off linked to the acquisition of Nokia’s phone division, there may have been better ways to handle it. Satya stated that it was one of the most difficult decisions that he made as CEO. He went on to say that the situation could be handled in a more appropriate way by reimagining the computing category between PCs, tablets, and smartphones.

What was the reason behind Windows phones’ failure?

In 2010, the smartphone market was dominated by iOS and Symbian. At such a time, the introduction of the Windows phone posed a new wave of competition. It was a big achievement for the company that the first Windows phone was quite famous among users, given the fluidity and animation in the OS. Its features, like notification management, lock screen, and on-screen keyboard, made it a direct competitor to iPhones.

With the passing years, the landscape of the smartphone market was changing. In 2013, the Nokia Lumia 1020 debuted with a huge 41MP sensor that changed the dynamics of the smartphone market. Until now, the camera on the smartphone was considered a secondary feature that could capture basic photographs.

The popularity of the Windows phone was due to its software, which became the reason for its downfall as well. It was because users expected support for essential apps like Instagram with every new model of the Windows phone. On the other hand, one of the major reasons for the downfall of the Windows phone was the lack of Google apps.

Because Google didn’t seem to want the platform to become a serious competitor to Android, they did everything they could to prevent Microsoft from accessing Google apps, which ultimately forced manufacturers to give up on their Windows phone initiatives.