There"s no doubt that Microsoft"s current CEO, Satya Nadella, is a very busy person. In just the past year, he"s led the company to its current generative AI push, and finally giving competitors like Google and Apple some pause. The biggest acquisition in Microsoft"s history was also finally closed a few weeks ago as it bought Activision Blizzard. He"s also announced layoffs of 10,000 of its employees in early 2023 as well.
Recently, Nadella was named the winner of the 2023 Axel Springer Award, given out by the parent company of the Business Insider family of media sites. As part of that award, he sat down with a chat with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Dpfner. Business Insider Africa has posted some highlights of that interview.
Perhaps the most interesting question, and the answer from Nadella, was when he was asked, "Is there any kind of real strategic mistake or just wrong decision that you regret in retrospect?", While he didn"t say it by name, Nadella clearly believes he might have made a mistake in shutting down the Windows Phone division:
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.
Oddly enough, one of the last Windows Phone devices that went on sale was meant to be that kind of PC-phone hybrid. The HP Elite x3, launched in 2016, included the option to purchase a Desk Dock to connect the phone to an external display. There was also the Mobile Extender, which offered a notebook-like option for the phone. However, that effort was too little, too late, to save Windows Phone.
Nadella also discusses the Activision Blizzard deal and how Microsoft will now be "really doubling down both as a game producer and a publisher" and of course he also talks about the company"s AI products.