\n<\/p>\n
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is the third chief executive of the software giant to admit the company has made some serious mobile mistakes. Satya Nadella took over from former CEO Steve Ballmer in 2014 and, just over a year later, wrote off $7.6 billion<\/a> related to Microsoft\u2019s acquisition of the Nokia phone business.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In an interview with Business Insider<\/em><\/a>, Nadella admitted that Microsoft\u2019s \u201cexit\u201d from the mobile phone business could have been handled better. Asked about a strategic mistake or wrong decision that he might regret, Nadella responds:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The decision I think a lot of people talk about \u2013 and one of the most difficult decisions I made when I became CEO \u2014 was our exit of what I\u2019ll 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Nadella is now the third Microsoft CEO to admit to the company\u2019s mobile mistakes. Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates said his \u201cgreatest mistake ever\u201d<\/a> was Microsoft losing to Android. Google acquired Android in 2005 for $50 million, and former CEO Eric Schmidt admitted in 2012 that Google\u2019s initial focus was beating Microsoft\u2019s early Windows Mobile efforts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was also slow to respond to Android and the iPhone threat, focusing the company\u2019s efforts on Windows Mobile while famously laughing at the iPhone<\/a>, calling it the \u201cmost expensive phone in the world and it doesn\u2019t appeal to business customers because it doesn\u2019t have a keyboard.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n